Gary Lineker

[James Curry]

I watched Match of the day last night for all of 5 minutes utter tish, I will not be watching tonight MOD 2

[vic mcclymont]

I though it was better without the inane commentary of so called pundits.

[James Curry]

Think back to the season during the pandemic. To get the season finshed matches played behind closed doors. No supporters, no atmosphere at all. Then they decided to add crowd noise and it made it more interesting. Gary Lineker added a bit of humour by adding along with goal of the month the loudest scream of the day. Funny watching footballers howling in anguish because someone bumped into them. Football without pundits certainly is not for me. As a Liverpool fan yesterday was a bit of a let down after the previous weeks humiliation Liverpool handed out to Manchester Utd beating them 7-0. The look on Roy Keanes face and Phil Neville was magic. The BBC do sport better than most and Gary Linecker will be back pretty soon. The Government need to keep their nose out of it.

[Terry Sullivan]

Living in Australia it does not affect me, but from what I have read I do not like Linekers comments and I agree with the comments about him.
Terry Sullivan R340406

[happy daze john in oz]

Free speech is a corner stone of democracy, yes there are those who would have it shut down, our feral attorney general is one such person, but what then if it is?
Men paid the ultimate price to keep it alive, so if you do not like it just think on that fact.

Here in Oz we have had a gutful of it on TV, ABC front running on it.
I do not know if the figures he quotes about immigration are true or not, but if he is so concerned about that fact then I suggest he go to one of the countries where these 'refugees' come from and start a campaign to remove the gov there that is obviously the reason so many want out!!

[Tony Taylor]

I though it was better without the inane commentary of so called pundits.

Apparently they recorded 500,000 more viewers than normal

[Chris Thorneycroft]

I believe Gary Lineker has the right to express his opinion about the Channel imigration situation but, he however shows his ignorance by comparing Government policy to that of the 1930s nazi party in Germany.If he had done a little research to realise the policies that were in force,such as the persecution of Jews,Gypsies and the mentally challenged etc he might realise he had overstepped the mark.

[Jim R Christie]

I believe Gary Lineker has the right to express his opinion about the Channel imigration situation but, he however shows his ignorance by comparing Government policy to that of the 1930s nazi party in Germany.If he had done a little research to realise the policies that were in force,such as the persecution of Jews,Gypsies and the mentally challenged etc he might realise he had overstepped the mark.

Chris,
One thing that seems to have been lost in the ether here is that he did not compare government policy with Nazi Germany. The exact quote which got the Tories turning purple was: “This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s".
As can be seen, he was comparing the language used to describe migrants, something for which the Home Secretary herself has come in for a lot of flack for, even from her own party.

In any event the BBC has now given in, Lineker is now back on air and the BBC's way of getting out of the hole they've dug for themselves is to have an independent review of the guidelines for freelancers and non news/political journalists like Lineker.
Interestingly compared to some of the opinions of those on this site, the BBC Director General today described Lineker as a "freelancer" and not a full time employee.
It's also very telling that the BBC choose to use the word guidelines rather than rules, which strongly suggests that they will be non binding/voluntary.
A victory for common sense.

[Johnny Kieran]

Maybe it's time the TV licence was scrapped, then everyone on the BBC would have to work for a living, and we can just turn it off if we don't like the comments they make. I can turn it off now, but I'm still paying for it, by law.
I wonder if there will be any people refusing to pay it?

[Captain Kong]

I AM SAYING NOTHING,
BUT HAD TWO WARNINGS ALREADY

If They put me in prison I can watch TV for NOTHING, HOW DAFT IS THAT