In the Sunday Telegraph, Charles Moore rails against the license fee supporting the BBC. Here’s why:
Virtually every single attitude can be predicted. This week, a new year memo by the BBC’s Middle-East Editor, Jeremy Bowen, was leaked. He described the situation in Palestine as “the death of hope, caused by a cocktail of Israel’s military activities, land expropriation and settlement-building – and the financial sanctions imposed on a Hamas-led government”.
What about the fact that Israel has actually left Gaza, that Palestinians have misappropriated aid, that “militants” (as the BBC likes to call them) have murdered Israelis, or that a Hamas-led government with Western money might not be a very good thing? Is nothing the fault of Palestinian leaders? …
As someone who is rather more pro-American than pro-EU, pro-Israel than pro-Palestinian, pro-tax cuts than pro-higher public spending, and a lot more pro-Britain than pro-its enemies, I don’t like underwriting a religion I don’t believe in. It’s like being frogmarched into the pew, preached at against your will and then having your wallet emptied.