I broadcast several times yesterday. The subject was Amazon, and tax. Or, as I made it, Amazon and accounting.
Twice were for the BBC. Once I was the only guest. The second was BBC 5 Live, on the Stephen Nolan show. And when they phoned the first thing they said was that they had read my blog from yesterday on who I would share platforms with. When I was invited they could not tell me that. But they agreed to keep me posted. Which they also did.
The other guests were informed and representative. There was a good discussion.
Some said the BBC would not take note of what Rupert Read had said and I had reiterated.
I am not quite so sure. But it will require that people object to platform sharing with those presenting extreme views.
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I’m surprised and encouraged in equal measure. Good work Richard. Maybe patience and calm reasonableness can prevail?
Very good! I see also that Bertrand Russel letter on a similar point is circulating on twitter.
https://twitter.com/CalumSPlath/status/1024979812023263232
The BBC needs to think much more carefully about who it allows on Today and Any Questions, etc. Freedom of speech is one thing, but giving a speaker the BBC badge of respectability is another.
A long time ago a person, well versed in giving evidence to the likes of the US Senate told me as a relatively new campaigner ‘Don’t wrestle with pigs. You’ll both get covered in shit but they’ll enjoy it.’ I think that metaphor stands.
Oh! – that is great- yes! – I’ve heard that before but not often enough.
Please. It’s a very old Japanese saying. “Never wrestle with a pig. You’ll just get dirty and the pig will enjoy it”.
OK
Noted
Old Japanese saying? “Citation needed”, as the phrase goes.
This phrase (wrestle with pigs, both get dirty, they like it) appears to have been variously attributed to those old standbys George Bernard Shaw, Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln. But in each case, there is no citation. There are similar phrases in US newspapers from the 19th century, and it seems it was definitely said in something close to this form by Cyrus Stuart Ching (then head of the US Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service) in 1948. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/07/08/pig/
And then there is a similar saying apparently known to Samuel Johnson in the 1770s, that if you wrestle with a chimney sweep, you will get covered in grime. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/07/06/chimney/
The citation is to ‘Widely known, Sometime in the past, Wherever it got written down’
PS:
It is very fair of you to give the BCC credit for their actions too. And admirable for that matter.
There was a story I heard from my grandfather many years ago, about a captain of industry and a trade union leader (or such a couple, it was long ago), who never agreed on anything – until the BBC spliced their separate radio news interviews into a debate – at which point they both gave the BBC a piece of their mind, that that was unacceptable – ‘Me, debate with him, never…’
“The subject was Amazon, and tax. Or, as I made it, Amazon and accounting.”
I expect the BBC thought it was about tax because of your accusation that Amazon was “playing tax games”.
I’m pleased to see that after a barrage of criticism, you have retreated from that accusation to a new position which I can summarise as
“I can’t work out from Amazon’s accounts if their tax bill is correct and so they should disclose everything to me, an unofficial, unelected commentator so that I can understand it, even though they have declared everything to HMRC who are satisfied with the position and even though I jealousy guard my own tax affairs”
Is that a correct summary of your position?
My comment is clear
The BBC knew my position and wanted to air it
It did not change from what I said on the blog
And your position presumes opinion on change in accounting is not allowed. You are wasting my time. Please do not call again.