Save your outrage about over-75s paying the TV licence fee – there are always winners and losers in democracy
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Your support makes all the difference.I found the level of indignation over the withdrawal of free TV licences for most people over 75 rather surprising.
Andrea Leadsom pointed out the other day that it was made crystal clear before the referendum that there would be winners and losers in the event of a no-deal Brexit. I should add that this was not my understanding, but who am I to disbelieve our politicians?
As most citizens of that age are not working, they therefore cannot lose their jobs. Bearing in mind the popular political saying “we are all in this together”, they should then take a share of the downside in these troubled times.
However, having said all that, I wonder if this was the electoral demographic that Leadsom was thinking of when she made her speech given that historically this age group heavily favours the Tories?
Or am I being overly cynical?
Robert Boston
Kingshill
It’s not the BBC that is asking pensioners over 75 to pay for the BBC licence fee, it’s our Conservative government as part of their attack on the BBC to level the so-called “playing field”.
It’s a typical Tory ploy, eg the Lib Dems carrying the can for university fees. This aim is to lower the standard of the BBC and give commercial TV less competition. Please don’t let us fall for this. It’s our Tory government doing this.
Rosanne Bostock
Oxford
Self-serving charlatans
Your paper kindly set out the key policies of the motley crew from which our next prime minister will be drawn.
It appears that after more than 10 years of continuous retrenchment, austerity and vanishing public services, each one now plans to increase spending while reducing taxation.
Such is the cynical deceit of our “betters”. And I haven’t mentioned the one whose vision is to prorogue parliament and thereby abolish our system of democracy.
Does the electorate really deserve these self-serving charlatans?
Tim Rubidge
Downton
Why are the media, TV and press giving so much time and space to what is, after all, a purely Tory tribal ritual?
The rest of us have no possible influence on the outcome, it will be foisted on us just like last time and that worked out well, didn’t it?
One can only hope that this internecine squabble will prove to be the death throes of an archaic and truly awful political party and the dreadful and undemocratic system they represent.
D Leddy
Chertsey
What makes Huawei so bad?
Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Spotify and even the BBC already know all about me and my whereabouts. They speak to me in French when I am in France. Why is Huawei different?
Paul Sheldon
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