News from the Centre for Citizenship

The percentage of those who would rather the BBC shut it’s doors than pay it £120 a year for permission to watch TV, has increased from 10% to 19% since 1990 according to research commissioned by the state media giant. Only 40% said they would willingly pay £240 to keep the corporation going. Those surveyed…

Media watchdog Ofcom is proposing that TV viewers be taxed another £300m on top of the £2.6m taken by the BBC state media giant. The tax would pay for another public service media organisation that would offer what the Financial Times described as “a pool of digital content” rather than scheduled programmes. No one in…

The Labour Party will promise in its election manifesto to legislate for the election of most legislators in the second chamber of parliament, according to press reports. Most legislators in the House of Lords would be chosen by indirect election. The rest would still be appointed and it is not cleared whether these would be…

The time for which unelected legislators-for-life may delay laws passed by elected legislators is likely to be limited after the general election, according to a report in the Financial Times. The newspaper reported that this was the most likely restriction on the so-called Lords’ powers to be included in the Labour Party manifesto. The legislators-for-life…

The Australian Senate Legal & Constitutional Affairs Committee has recommended in its report The Road To A Republic that any future move to make Australia a republic should have three stages. The first step would be a plebiscite on the principle of becoming a republic. If a majority favoured a republic there would be a…

Labour MP Derek Wyatt has said that giving the BBC a new ten-year charter would be “folly”. In an article in the Financial Times the House of Common culture committee member says that the state media giant should be treated as “any other utility” with its funding reviewed by the Treasury every three years. Mr.…

Entrepreneur Paul Drayson gave £505,000 to the Labour Party six weeks after being made a legislator-for-life on the recommendation of Prime Minister Tony Blair, according to information released by the Electoral Commission. Drayson was awarded a peerage that entitles him to a permanent seat in the legislature. The Financial Times reported that neither the Labour…

Charles Windsor, heir to head of state, took £11,913,000 from the Duchy of Cornwall last year before tax. This was nearly £2m more than the previous year. Some of this income was spent on what are termed “official” duties. The value of the estate increased by £55m to £463m, growth of one-fifth. Although Mr. Windsor…

A MORI poll suggests that two-thirds of the population would prefer that the BBC be financed, at least in part, from sources other than the viewing licence. Twenty-five percent wanted the state media giant to raise some income from advertising and sponsorship. At present no one in the UK may watch TV of any kind…