THE ENFORCERS ARE COMING..... FOR OLDBADGER!

[oldbadger]

What? You have to pay to watch TV? I thought that's what commercials were for. Basic TV is free here via antenna.

Hi.... Thanks for your post.
We have to buiy a licence even if we don't watch the BBC channels (which don't have adverts).
We even have to buy a licence if we don't have a telly, but watch channels via a computer system.

 

[oldbadger]

Aren't you glad we kicked their arsches out in 1812? The last thing we need on top of all our other problems is a bunch'o cockney accented fops in powdered wigs demanding money so they can produce a Benny Hill memorial TV show.

Free markets rule!
Socialists drool!

What a fun thread this is.

Wirey said we kicked you out of Canada in 1812! And we got one or two of your frigates! All you got was a tatty old 36 gun frigate (HMS Java)

 

[oldbadger]

Good luck in taking care of this. Sounds stressful.

Thankyou for your post!
Ohhh I am going to enjoy sorting this out!
But the stress caused Mrs B to ask me to print our emailed licence, just so that she could be 'sure'.
I want to take this to the press etc......

 

[oldbadger]

It sounds like fun to me. Badge seems to revel in stick'n it to The Man too.

I get regular threats from Michiganistan that they'll prosecute me if I don't return my business census form (divulging race, religion, etc) to them. I circular file the forms & letters. Let'm try to prosecute. Me personal information is me own...not theirs. No stress...just the joy of righteous indignation.

That's the word!
Revolting has taught oldbadger suffin'.
RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION!
I am going to surf the waves of righteous indignation... I luv it!

 

[oldbadger]

Can anyone else see a pattern here? First they take your guns, then they take your tellys. Diabolical.

luv it!

 

[Brickjectivity]

I'm impressed. I lived in an apartment without TV and kept getting scary notices from the cable company. Apparently they had no way of knowing who was on cable, because the letters always said I had been caught cheating. This was in Raleigh about ten years ago. I wanted to sue Time Warner for such disingenuous behavior. I was probably the only person in the whole complex not using cable for free, and look how I got treated. I began to think evil thoughts about how stupid the company execs were and how fun it would be to steal cable.

 

[Revoltingest]

Wirey said we kicked you out of Canada in 1812! And we got one or two of your frigates! All you got was a tatty old 36 gun frigate (HMS Java)

I read an interesting piece on the War Of 1812 in Smithsonian. It seems everyone has a different take on it. Yes, we failed to conquer Canuckistan, but we wouldn't'a invaded were it not for your & their denizens attacking us first. At least we decisively survived both of yuz attacking us.....with a little help from Napoleon, & our nascent superiority in mass production manufacturing.

 

[oldbadger]

I read an interesting piece on the War Of 1812 in Smithsonian. It seems everyone has a different take on it. Yes, we failed to conquer Canuckistan, but we wouldn't'a invaded were it not for your & their denizens attacking us first. At least we decisively survived both of yuz attacking us.....with a little help from Napoleon, & our nascent superiority in mass production manufacturing.

That is a different 'take' to what I learned on this side.
The USA declared war on us because of our continuous and unrelenting stop-searches of American vessels, and impressing your seamen into our service, + other stuff.
Your Congress had approved the construction of three (four?) flush-decked 44 gun frigates, Constitution, President, Delaware(?).... and you had a couple of smaller vessels, Chesapeake and another. They were to be the big commerce raiders, and their exploits were truly amazing against our huge forces. The President's escape is the best naval read ever. C S Forester's 'The Age of Fighting Sail' is the business.
Constitution's taking of the Java was a dreadful battle. Your frigate had 44 guns but it's hull was built of pine which splinters horribly under great-gun shot, but the Java's lighter 36 guns could not prevail. Losses on both sides were just horrific.
I don't know anything about the battles of the Lakes, though.

 

[Revoltingest]

You Brits are always after another man's seamen.

Btw, we kicked yer arses on the Great Lakes.

 

[sun rise]

In the UK you have to put up with bureaucrats doing such things. Here in the plutocratic US, we have businesses that make a living doing exactly that kind of thing.

 

[Revoltingest]

In the UK you have to put up with bureaucrats doing such things. Here in the plutocratic US, we have businesses that make a living doing exactly that kind of thing.

We can refuse to buy the products whose advertising fund TV shows. And if you don't pay for HBO, they just stop supplying it to you. No one will haul you into court over not paying for a TV show you don't watch.

 

[Brickjectivity]

We do all have to pay taxes to support PBS. (Public Broadcasting Corp) but that is just beans. Nowhere near even a dollar per person.

 

[Storm]

Guys, this isn't socialism, it's bureaucracy. Can we maybe not get all hysterical and make it even more ridiculous? Geez.

I'm sorry for your troubles, badger.

 

[oldbadger]

Guys, this isn't socialism, it's bureaucracy. Can we maybe not get all hysterical and make it even more ridiculous? Geez.

I'm sorry for your troubles, badger.

Thanks for your thoughts.
Obviously, since we do buy our licence every February, our troubles are non existent compared with what I wish to present to the Licensing Enforcement Folks.
My long lasting irritation is all about how unsettling and frightening this exact procedure was to my elderly mother, about 12 years ago.
I am also interested to discover whether our Age-Concern charity has had many reports similar to the one which I sent to them (back then) and whether they ever have done anything about this treatment towards older people who don't keep televisions.
Now I have opened this thread I will keep an update as any new events occur.

 

[Storm]

We can refuse to buy the products whose advertising fund TV shows. And if you don't pay for HBO, they just stop supplying it to you. No one will haul you into court over not paying for a TV show you don't watch.

True.

But it's not like our system is without drawbacks, like commercial interruption - I remember an airing of Buffy's The Body that actually cut off the last few seconds of the devastating opening scene to start blaring about some new PlayStation. And then there's the appalling phenomenon of newscasts needing to keep the sponsors happy, and all the ripples from that turd in the pond. That's kind of a big deal.

It all sucks.

 

[HonestJoe]

Sorry, but it sounds to me like you're just getting a strange thrill out of "sticking it to the man". What are you actually going to do to improve the situation? My money is on bugger all.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

The blokes inside the vans probably just drank tea and chatted. I once heard that they didn't actually have any equipment in them at all.

That's right, it was all just a con, there's no way to tell if a piece of equipment is receiving a signal. They just assumed that nearly everyone had a TV so if you hadn't paid you were trying to avoid the fee. I don't understand why the TV licence fee doesn't come out of general taxation, it's just another tax. Still, we're "all in it together" according to Cameron and his millionaire pals.

 

[Storm]

Sorry, but it sounds to me like you're just getting a strange thrill out of "sticking it to the man". What are you actually going to do to improve the situation? My money is on bugger all.

Actually, it sounds to me like he's sick of 'the man' harassing citizens like his grandmother, and gathering evidence now that 'the man' is coming after him in violation of the law.

That's not a "strange thrill", and it's not "sticking it to the man" (you're using that wrong). It's performance of civic duty.

 

[oldbadger]

Sorry, but it sounds to me like you're just getting a strange thrill out of "sticking it to the man". What are you actually going to do to improve the situation? My money is on bugger all.

Hello Honest Joe.
Don't say 'sorry' when you're not! Honest? Ha ha!
No strange thrill here, simply a discovery of exactly how far this threatening process does go, and then send the whole story to the press. That could, just could, have impact upon somebody senior enough for them to decide to alter the process for the better.
I just the person to attempt it, because I wrote for magazines for many years..... I write, dear member!

 

[oldbadger]

Actually, it sounds to me like he's sick of 'the man' harassing citizens like his grandmother, and gathering evidence now that 'the man' is coming after him in violation of the law.

That's not a "strange thrill", and it's not "sticking it to the man" (you're using that wrong). It's performance of civic duty.

And there you have it. Nicely put!