Ending free TV licences for the over-75s is Johnson's first step to dismantling the BBC | Polly Toynbee

Dominic Cummings has long made it clear he hates the BBC. Now the prime minister is joining him in a full-blown assaultIn the Polish election, the victor, President Andrzej Duda, seized control of the state broadcaster, TVP, for his onslaughts towards his liberal opponent, Rafal Trzaskowski. TVP ran relentless warnings that Trzaskowski would divert welfare money from Polish families to meet Jewish restitution claims. On its flagship news programme, 97% of items were overtly pro-Duda, while 87% were overtly negative to his challenger.Imagine Dominic Cummings’ envy at this political grip on the equivalent of the BBC. Ever since Cummings’ New Frontiers Foundation blog posts pronounced “The BBC is a mortal enemy” it’s been plain he meant it: “The privileged closed world of the BBC needs to be turned upside down and its very existence should be the subject of a very intense and well-funded campaign … The right should be aiming for the end of the BBC in its current form and the legalisation of TV political advertising.” There’s plenty more where that came from as Boris Johnson echoed this long-held plan in his 2019 election threat to abolish the BBC licence fee. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/13/ending-free-tv-licences-over-75s-boris-johnson-dismantling-bbc-dominic-cummings #bbc #bbc_licence_fee #boris_johnson #media #uk_news #television_&_radio #dominic_cummings #politics #culture #conservatives #older_people