Gary Lineker

[Ivan Cloherty]

No one I believe has any objection to free speech, however whether you're a freelancer or not when you work for the BBC you sign an agreement that you will not do anything inside or outside the BBC that may reflect upon its impartiality and because of his strong links with the BBC it is why it was deemed he had broken those rules. It was not the fact that he disagreed with Government policy it was the fact that he compared it to Nazism which in itself was an insult to the 6 million plus people who were murdered for no other reason that Hitler didn't like them.

To compare his remarks to those made by Lord Sugar, or the antics of Boris Johnson has not even a tenuous link to what Lineker inferred. As a Licence fee payer I personally do not want to hear some overpaid self opinionated person making statements which shows that he has no real grasp of history but which remarks may influence his followers who may even have less knowledge than he apparently has. A recent survey of young people showed that some thought Hitler was British and that Churchill was our enemy during WWII.

In Germany Lineker would be facing arrest for his remarks as it is an offence under Federal law to compare Nazism with any current situation within their borders.

Liniker's assertion that we take in less than any other country may or may not be factual, but he conveniently forgets that the UK is the most densely populated country per square mile than any other country in Europe and because of his privileged position engendered by his overpaid salary, partially and forcibly paid out of my State pension, he is not directly affected by shortage of housing, social services, transport or medical facilities no matter how many crocodile tears he may shed.

[Bill Morrison]

I don't do political posts, but have thought for a long time now, they should bring back the teleprinter, it was far more exciting watching the scores coming through than listening to a lot of waffle by so called experts.

[Jim R Christie]

Liniker's assertion that we take in less than any other country may or may not be factual, but he conveniently forgets that the UK is the most densely populated country per square mile than any other country in Europe and because of his privileged position engendered by his overpaid salary, partially and forcibly paid out of my State pension, he is not directly affected by shortage of housing, social services, transport or medical facilities no matter how many crocodile tears he may shed.

I should imagine he has "conveniently forgotten" - as you put it - because it's not true.
Only news staff within the BBC are contractually forbidden from expressing political opinions publicly.
You say the Sugar comparison is not meaningful. That's actually quite interesting because Sugar - when an employee of the BBC - actually did make a Nazi comparison, for which he faced no action from the BBC.
See the attached screenshot.
Fq382K4WwBQ8vUb.jpg

[Captain Kong]

get rid of that BUM linnaker
They want me to pay towards his 1,300,000 pounds YEAR wage out of my miserable MN PENSION It is OBSCENE
FOOTBALL SHOULD SHOULD BE BANNED just leave it to school boys
How can a MAN spend a lifetime kicking a ball. what a miserable waste of life. So many adventures away from that..

I HATE FOOTBALL WITH A VENGENCE.,

[Ivan Cloherty]

[QUOTE=Jim R Christie;413506] That's actually quite interesting because Sugar - when an employee of the BBC - actually did make a Nazi comparison, for which he faced no action from the BBC.
See the attached screenshot.
Fq382K4WwBQ8vUb.jpg[/QUOTE

Well James any sensible person could see that was a joke and not a direct comparison of Government policy, but whatever floats your boat

[Jim R Christie]

[QUOTE=Ivan Cloherty;413509]

That's actually quite interesting because Sugar - when an employee of the BBC - actually did make a Nazi comparison, for which he faced no action from the BBC.
See the attached screenshot.
Fq382K4WwBQ8vUb.jpg[/QUOTE

Well James any sensible person could see that was a joke and not a direct comparison of Government policy, but whatever floats your boat

So you think comparing someone to a Nazi and posting a picture of their image imposed next to one of Hitler is a joke?

Oddly enough a number of anti semitism campaigners didn't see it that way including the chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism, Lord John Mann.
Mann publicly posted on Twitter that he thought the tweet was libellous and that Lord Sugar "might find it sensible to reword or remove it". He then publicly messaged Sugar the following: "The use of Hitler/ Nazi comparators is demeaning, unwarranted and dangerous. You damage the fight against anti Semitism with this @Lord--Sugar. Withdraw this and apologise please."
Sugar complied with his request.
This was of course just one in many Anti-Corbyn messages etc from Sugar. One of this most famous was in an interview with the Sun prior to the 2015 election, the headline is attached.
ELYPwUUXUAIEwnK.jpg
Sugar was of course employed by the BBC at the time and again faced no action.

This article on the BBC website is rather interesting:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44957901
After the Brexit referendum Lineker opposed any confirmatory votes or such like, with one of this tweets stating "Leave won, get over it".
However the political chaos afterwards caused him to change his mind and suggest a confirmatory vote. There were then accusations of bias to the BBC from leave campaigners. The response was this:

A spokesman for the BBC said: "Gary is not involved in any news or political output for the BBC and as such any expression of his personal political views does not affect the BBC's impartiality."

That was in 2018. It therefore begs the question as to what has changed at the BBC beyond gaining a Tory supporting Chairman?

[Johnny Kieran]

Just goes to show what can happen if you get lucky in life and get rich and famous. People tend to hear what you say, and respond to it. There tends to be a count of those followers that agree with Lineker, but it seems even the BBC can feel the numbers that don't.

[vic mcclymont]

Post 16, so what is the difference between Sugar and Lineker?
Your last sentence is beyond paraday, the disciplinary action (if that's what it was) was conducted by the the Director General of the BBC, one Tim Davies and not the BBC Chairman an nothing do with the Tory Party.
And as for not being an employee of the BBC, HMRC consider Lineker an employee of the BBC and as such owes them nearly £4m in taxes and nearly and nearly £150k in national insurance contributions.
He was funnelling his earnings through company owned by him and his wife and as such he paid less tax.
A good Socialist is Mr. Lineker.

[Ivan Cloherty]

[QUOTE=Jim R Christie
So you think comparing someone to a Nazi and posting a picture of their image imposed next to one of Hitler is a joke?

[/QUOTE]

#16 Well as far as I remember (its late at night and I'm old) Corbyn was never in Government but only opposition, so was never responsible for Govt policy and it was the comparison of our Govt's policy with that of Nazism that was the issue with Mr Lineker

We are all entitled to our opinions, anyway I've wasted enough time on a person who holds no interest to me and I am not a football fan, except to support my National team.

I've already circumnavigated the world on more than one occasion, so don't need to go round in circles anymore.

So its FWE on this subject for me. Cheers

[James Curry]

The Chairman of the BBC Richard Sharp's heritage is Jewish and he is considered by those who know him broadly pro-Israel. No Bias there then!!! Richard Sharp has donated over £400,000 to the Conservative party.
Perhaps he had a word with the director general Tim Davies and objected to the ref: about Germany in the 1930's
Lineker is not likely to be a German fan especially seeing as he was in the England team that lost a penalty shootout in the semi final of the Italia 1990 world cup