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TV detector van

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Re: TV detector van

#281

Post by toomanybeersies »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #169
jrjarrett wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know where you moved to, but is the US anything admirable lately? Guess I should cross the UK off the list of places to flee to.

I moved to NZ. Glad to get out of UK's weather and rat race. Went to Hawaii for couple weeks one year ago. Experienced culture shock. NZ is probably best place in the world.

As a Kiwi Expat, I beg to differ. Australia takes that title.

Better incomes, quality of living (houses are vastly better quality), infrastructure, entertainment, and weather.

Re: TV detector van

#282

Post by nmstoker »

coldtea wrote: post #199
gambiting wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly can't tell if this is satire or not.

Not sure about emptying them, but the TVs with coin slots where a thing in the UK: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Ftimes... Not for the BBC license though: it was when TVs where expensive (in the 60s and 70s) and so some people could just rent one. Probably sounds alien to US people, but UK was much poorer country, especially in workers areas...

You're right to highlight the point about the UK's former lack of wealth (as it's not obvious), but I was amused by the reference to "workers areas" - presumably "working class areas" as people have worked in pretty much all populated areas of the country since time immemorial.

Re: TV detector van

#283

Post by kalleboo »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #63
wyldfire wrote: post #8

While reading I thought, "for sure we will get to the part of the article where the British realized their folly and discontinued the licensing." But that part never came. Brits: is this for real, does this still exist? Do you pay a license to use your TV? Is it only for OTA programming or using the device in general?

The best part of the TV licence, I think, is that blind people get a 50% discount.

You also get a discount if you're still using a black-and-white TV.

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/t...

Re: TV detector van

#284

Post by hogFeast »

xtracto wrote: post #231
hogFeast wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is actually worse than this. They send out the letters (it often seems randomly) AND they will send someone to come to your house who will "inspect" your TV/demand entry/make threats... ...this is one of these utterly bizarre public sector things where the govt will hire a private company to chase down people (usually immigrants, unemployed, etc.) and give them a cut of whatever is looted...unsurprisingly, this ha…

> ...this is one of these utterly bizarre public sector things where the govt will hire a private company to chase down people (usually immigrants, unemployed, etc.) and give them a cut of whatever is looted...unsurprisingly, this has proved to be controversial in practice. This actually happened to me! I (Mexican living in the UK) was at my rented flat with my father visiting. We were watching a movie in a TV I had…

Yep, they actually have no power to search your premises (obv). They are, literally, just some guys herded off the street by a dodgy company that get paid a commission to squeeze money out/scare people.

Nonetheless, I have heard of them: forcing entry into people's homes, claiming to have powers of search, claiming to have power to issue fines, claiming to work on behalf of the police and that they can request arrest...it is kind of incredible.

Britain is a very odd place (I say this as a Brit).

Re: TV detector van

#285

Post by rahimnathwani »

EdwardDiego wrote: post #237
_-___________-_ wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> NZ is probably best place in the world. Unless you, say, like to travel, or want to live in a place with people from a wide variety of backgrounds.

> want to live in a place with people from a wide variety of backgrounds Our largest city is also our most diverse. > Auckland is one of the world's most culturally diverse cities with the fourth most foreign-born population, an international study has found. > With 39 per cent of its population born overseas, the city is revealed to be more diverse than Sydney, Los Angeles, London and even New York. https://www.nzhe…

It's hard to define a good measure of diversity. Thankfully statisticians provide some options:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversity_index

For some reason, the article you linked made up their own (very poor) measure of diversity. Imagine a city that's half white locals, and half white British immigrants (temporary or permanent). Would you consider such a city as diverse? The measure in that news article would put this city as being 50% diverse, even higher than Wellington's 39%.

Re: TV detector van

#286

Post by Udik »

soneil wrote: post #201
monkeynotes wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ads were hugely dystopian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NmdUcmLFkw I am an ex-pat and as an adult I am have become quite disillusioned with the UK and glad to have gotten out a decade ago. I miss nothing about England except my friends, and I'd feel sorry for them, but they all seem mostly happy with life. Paying a license to have a TV (and it's assumed you must watch TV), opt in porn on the internet, CCTV ev…

I don't begrudge the TV licence too much. I used to, and then I moved to Ireland - where I pay a roughly equivalent amount for a roughly equivalent licence, which funds RTÉ (and tg4? unclear) with nowhere near the same results. And still ads. It turns out the better half of Europe has TV licences in one form or another - but for some reason, we never hear about them. When the UK has to fund a state broadcaster, it's…

What's dystopian is not the tv license, is their style of public communication. In general public communication in the UK feels sometimes very direct and almost threatening. The sense of authority and hierarchy implied is palpable. Not for nothing the UK is source of some wonderful parodies on the theme: for example the Scarfolk series:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/digging-through-the-ar...

Or one of my favourite Monthy Python sketches:

"How not to be seen": https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGv8oAHxekU

Re: TV detector van

#287

Post by dboreham »

jonknee wrote: post #273
yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because now you're proposing that people be charged for something even if they don't use it and don't want it.

Yes, that's life in the modern world. My taxes go to pay for all sorts of government programs that I don't use. This is mostly fine.

e.g. wars

Re: TV detector van

#288

Post by notzuck »

criddell wrote: post #149
jrjarrett wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know where you moved to, but is the US anything admirable lately? Guess I should cross the UK off the list of places to flee to.

Don't flee, get involved and help fix things if you can!

Yes, he should just dedicate his life to toiling away at a problem he can't make an impact on while telling his kids and wife that he's very sorry that he can't give them a significantly better standard of living because he needs to help fix England.

Re: TV detector van

#289

Post by notzuck »

dylan604 wrote: post #151
jrjarrett wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know where you moved to, but is the US anything admirable lately? Guess I should cross the UK off the list of places to flee to.

I was just thinking about the grass isn't always greener kind of situation. Everyone hopes somewhere else is going to (have to?) be better than here. Where ever there/here actually are.

Absolutely right but moving to Australia has genuinely massively improved our standard of living beyond what i thought was even possible. I can't believe how good we have it here.

Re: TV detector van

#290

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

dragonsngoblins wrote: post #270
yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't mind that for infrastructure (roads, power grid) and core services (police, fire dept), but TV is not a requirement . Or rather, entertainment is not a requirement for life. If they want public funding for a channel for emergency broadcasts then I wouldn't object too loudly (other than questioning value vs radio and web).

By that logic though you should be able to only contribute for the specific programming you watch. As in "I agree with paying for BBC news, but not kid's programming". In Australia we fund the ABC and SBS through tax, which have charters requiring a certain amount of locally produced programming, and serve as publicly owned news media (which I think is in the public interest so long as the government isn't exerting t…

Yes please! I 100% support unbundling and buying exactly what I actually want

Edit: It took a reread for me to realize that you were actually arguing in favor of it. I do see your point about positive externalities, but I'm still not convinced it's a good trade off overall.

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