Your precise words to me were

"For someone who only deals in hard facts, quoting a mere suggestion from a rag like the Guardian with its well known agenda is not really very impressive, no more impressive in fact than those who claim that the Guardian went a long way to help instigate the present unrest."

I couldn't actually spot a post where you said what you posted above.

Sorry.

I'm merely saying that both RB & JR do good stuff, that no-one does 100% good work, and all artists leave shit on the editing room floor.

You ask HBG. He's a professional writer, and I bet he doesn't publish every word he writes.

how sure are you that Brand has been given a contract. Think you will find it will be with his Ltd co to keep him one step away.
Remember that he and his buddy Woss both have these Ltd co's acting for them, they also negotiate "image rights" and repeat fees. By then taking high levels of dividend from the company they pay much much less tax than the tea lady at Broadcasting House.
probably find that the fine clothes he wears are all claimed against tax as they are part of his image and he has to keep that image up in the face of the punters

ISTR most of this came out when Woss's contract was under review.

Hands up anyone on here who would not strive to make as much as you could from apprearing on the TV?

Who here would give away their repeat fees and so on?

I happen to know that at least one formula1 driver has it in his contract that he gets a new set of driving gear each time, and that they are his. He puts them away as an investment (think it's the red bull guy that keeps on winning) presumably with an eye on ebay.....

Jamie Oliver has his own production company, and makes a lot of money from all his programmes, but I don't see him getting attacked on here.

From that I assume that this is yet again an attack on a person, simply using every bit of dirt to hand in the desperate hope that some of it will stick.

where would you get that idea from

are you suggesting I am and\or make a habit of "an attack on a person" ?
your comment about an F1 driver could be deemed to be "dirt"

all I have queried is to whether the named person signed the contract or his company ?
one of the most successful of the UK's acting teams are Martin Jarvis and Rosalin Ayres who do all their work through their own production company. It keeps them one step removed. Quite sensible. also means when trawling BBC accounts you never see the "name" appearing there.

I was comparing the attitudes on here to JR and comparing that to Jamie Oliver, not actually attacking you personally. Mind you there hs been rather a habit on here going for people rather than a post. I'm certainly not doing that here.

I was reporting what I heard about a driver maximising his earning capability.

How is that dirt? I think he's being very sensible.

this is fairly common, didn't Stirling Moss sell one of his driving suits (overalls to most ppl ) a month or two ago ?
footballers keep shirts from their best days etc etc
I have some old clothing I was saving for a rainy day - but its unlikely anyone will bid for it.

most actors have their own production co to hide their name from accounts books around the world. the co also negotiates the image rights, repeat fees, appearance fees, management of property holdings etc etc as well as ensuring the main product generating the income is well presented and files his tax returns in time. Same also applies to sportsmen, even those "amateurs" taking part in the Olympics I understand, to ensure their funding is kept in the open.?.

one of the most quietly successful production company's is that owned by husband and wife team Martin Jarvis and Rosalind Ayres. she is appearing on stage alot at the moment, he is doing what he has done for many years - voiceovers and radio stories and audio books. Cripes he's 70

So why then is Johnathon Ross attacked for his contract? Why is it always referred to as being paid 6M and not as it was, for producing a series?

How much does a series cost anyway?

bil do u really need me to answer that one ?
well I will just in case.......

it is jealousy, by other people who are (IMHO) just as talentless as that individual. It is questions as to why he is only on the tv for 40mins each week for 16 weeks. Then there is the lack of respect shown towards another artist - albeit from another generation. Quite honestly the majority of the men on a London omnibus would ask the question "what is so special about this really talentless hanger-on that he should be jammed down our throats all the time.?"
what series did he produce (missed that bit honest) and how many other executive and assisting producers were needed to support him ?

staying with talent as we are so far off the tread anyway
compare Wogan (much maligned, has micky taken at every opportunity) to the much loved and revered Chris Evans.
the former attracts millions of listeners to everything he does, is self deprecating and sits comfortably in the pocket. talks to "his friends" whilst in an empty studio.
the latter is seen as a loose cannon, simply cannot build and hold on to a following whilst demanding £squillions for what has proven to be a little bit of a disaster with falling listener figures. needs 3 or 4 people in the studio to stare at how "good" he is.

ok - hit me, I am making personal comments about individuals. The BBC has a very poor record with regard employing people who are supposed to make the world sing like a coca cola advert. they fail miserably and get another series. they pay executives to do a job 40hrs\wk and then buy programmes from them they have made with their own production co.

finally - production companies: for at least the first 6m if not 12m of his time at the BBC Birt was not a direct employee but employed via his own personal company. it was known but not regularised until it became public knowledge.

To change tack a little, and possibly get the thread back on track, I see the UK government is still insistent that police numbers have to be cut. There will come a point where society does break down? Unless the government has a magic rabbit it can pull out of the hat, surely tension and lack of decent jobs is not going to go away soon. It is showing every indication it is going to get worse.

understand exactly what i think you are trying to say and that police numbers should be maintained because they will be needed to quell further riots.

as society is potentially breaking down already, with fewer and fewer people paying taxes to keep status quo who is going to fund the large numbers of police officers swanning around in cars, racing each other to a shout, never seen on an estate unless they are called for.?
Oh yes that will be the Government - so thats ok cos it won't be my money will it !!

perhaps some of the back office police could be relieved for duty by civilians, its a hard one which luckily I don't have to make

rgds

Lets see.... are there going to be more dissafected little rats, or less? Can we keep a lid on what we have at the moment? Just about, providing we don't get organised rioting, which is a problem I see as getting worse, not better.

Given that it woud seem to be a no brainer, eh? Yeah, cut the police. You know it makes sense.

why cut the police ? What we want is value for money, which may well mean reducing the staff payroll. less emotive than custs

Quite so, I was being a bit acid when I wrote that. I reckon tho that what you are going to get is cuts, even if it is the last thing we need.

Quite right and as bil says cuts are the last thing we need.
Obviously in a perfect World there'd be no cuts.
Every single sector of public services could no doubt come up with an excellent reason why they should suffer no cuts either.

However whats the alternative ?
Follow the path of the previous govt until we are totally stony broke, can't pay our way or cover ever increasing interest rates, lose all the solid international confidence that still exists in our ability to get through this crisis which we have been made aware is subject to us sticking to the present policies. ?

Once that happens then the recent troubles would seem like a Sunday school tea party by comparison.
We would face even greater debt at an interest rate way beyond our means, with vitually no hope of ever recovering and possibly drift into a true state of anarchy leaving us like a third world country.

Beggars can't be choosers and at least on our present track their just may be some distant light at the end of the tunnel,....until the next election of course.