Attila the Stockbroker on SM yesterday - right on-point, as ever…

”The Lineker saga has a lot of lessons for me in terms of the things I want to see from prominent people in public life and the contrasting response to them from the general public on the one hand and right wing politicians and media concerned about their influence on the other.

Lineker’s not a radical leftist by any means, but he does appear to be a very nice, compassionate bloke, he is highly intelligent and he loves and is incredibly knowledgable about his subject. In Lineker and Attenborough we have two truly wonderful presenters who get through to this non-TV fan in a way few others do (Chris Packham also worthy of a mention, not just because of the Clash quotes, but he is far more niche.)

Lineker and Attenborough frighten the Right because their easy-going humanity strikes a chord with many of those who may have been conditioned to consider themselves ‘right wing’ in terms of their viewing and reading habits but are basically kind, caring people.

Tory politicians and their pet newspapers don’t want people, especially people of my generation - their primary constituency by far these days - to be easy-going and kind. They want them to be scared, angry and defensive, constantly looking to protect their little English ‘castles’ from alien attack, whether from ‘invasions’ of immigrants, apocalyptic weather conditions, deadly diseases or attacks on their pensions. If you want a brilliant satire on this google ‘Daily Mail Headline Generator.’ It’s a work of beauty.

Tories want to foster division and create scapegoats because they think it will win them votes, and their main weapon is of course ‘the right wing press’ - an institution unique in Europe in terms of its size and virtual monopoly. One which leaves our continental neighbours open-mouthed in wonder that such a phenomenon can exist in a modern (supposedly) democratic country.

The discussion around the impartiality of the BBC must be extended to take in the partiality of the vast majority of the rest of the media. ‘The right wing press’ is a phrase used in a matter-of-fact way, accepting the fact that our papers are mostly owned by non-dom billionaires, such individuals are virtually always on the right of the political spectrum, and that therefore there is massive bias in our print media.

We have to start challenging the whole idea that the BBC has to be impartial because it’s publicly owned but other institutions can be festering pits of right wing bigotry, slant and obfuscation because they are privately owned.

In a democracy, the major political forces should have equal representation, end of, and the question of private or taxpayer ownership should be irrelevant. If the BBC is to be subject to such legislation so should the (currently) right wing press. At the moment, their brutal, baleful, strutting influence is a stain on our democracy.”

Who, but a brainwashed Tory-apologist, could dispute any of that?