Gary Lineker: son says presenter ‘won’t ever back down’ as BBC crisis deepens
That’s absolutely fine. The appropriate response here is to terminate his contract and let him seek work elsewhere. Backing down will make the organisation appear weak and it will send a message that you can breach your contract with impunity. It also undermines the impartiality clause in the Royal charter. So, yes, the BBC needs to stand firm here. Lineker cannot be allowed to win this one. Although, if it brings the whole rotten edifice crashing down, that would be a result.
Just for clarity here, I am a freedom of speech absolutist. However (and yes, ‘however’ does apply here) when free speech and contracts come into conflict, the contract takes precedence because Lineker entered into it freely and accepted the clauses therein.
When I worked for a big organisation some of the engineers were allowed to drive home in a liveried van so they could make an early start in the morning.
If they did something reprehensible while driving the liveried van in their own time they were still subject to disciplinary procedures (up to dismissal) for ‘Bringing the business into disrepute’.
Is Lineker famous for working for the BBC? Yes. Do his comments bring the BBC into disrepute? Possibly so.
I really see the BBC as having no alternative for to allow Lineker to continue his defiance will encourage the others.
I watched MOTD last night and it was an improvement. It was only on for about 20 minutes when normally it last 90 minutes. That means the presenters waffle on for 70 minutes. Not needed. Bye bye Lineker.
I’m hearing this a lot this morning.
I’m assuming then that MOTD shows edited highlights of a football match that happened earlier. If the show is normally 90 minutes long why not do away with the pundits and just show the whole match? A 90 minute show with only 20 minutes of actual football seems pretty ridiculous to me but then I know nothing about the subject.
Likewise. I really can’t see the point of talking about something that people can see for themselves. Tedious wankery.
I don’t follow football at all.
Can anyone tell me what they actually talk about on MoTD?
All I can imagine is the conversations being:
Pundit 1: Team needs to football harder if they want to win.
Pundit 2: yes, they have/haven’t been footballing well recently.
P1: indeed, their footballing skills will need to be good at their next game of football
P2: correct, their next game is against other team, and then we’ll see who is best at footballing
P3: don’t forget other team have/haven’t been footballing well. So this could be an interesting match.
P1: other team have other player who footballs well, which he has form doing over his career as a professional footballer
P2: team have player who also footballs well in his career as a professional footballer
Repeat ad nauseum
Looks like the BBC caved
Setting aside the organisation and personalities involved, this was a really bad decision. The employer should be calling the shots, not the employee. The BBC has now openly admitted that impartiality does not apply and they have no control over their employee.
On the whole, I think this is good news. HMRC takes a kick in the pants and the BBC flushes what little credibility it had left down the pan. Sure, we have to endure the crisp-muncher and his acolytes’ smug faces for a bit, but in the long run I think it’s for the best.
Gary Lineker, the man who killed the TV licence.