Visas

[carrie]

Sorry to raise the dreaded topic once again but a friend has to renew his visa shortly and his rental contract runs out in 3 weeks. He has no intention of renewing it because he is going to move to Cairo. Can he get a 6 months visa with a rental contract that doesn't cover the 6 months of his stay?

[BENNU]

No, each year, I have only been given extensions until a few days before the end of my contract.

[Who2]

Went for my Visa today, told Ahmed the nazi's son, that 'I had recently been told if your over 65 it's free!
He laughed, and said ''No it's just that people don't bother anymore'.
In walked a mate, doing his visa and said 'many don't do their visas. me: 'really ?

I like doing the visa it's 4-5 hours in St George Sonesta, they know me as Mr '6 month man.
Anyhow the visa cost 1105le 'La whaala! and I almost belted a queue-jumper, saying "f....Ba Diz Nak pal!
Iv'e learnt to say that twice once in Arabic nicely "excuse me the other, more 'inflected with:
"Excuse Me Pal but your about to get a knuckle sandwich.....
They guy in front laughed and said "it's an Egyptian thing, I said "I know, he was sent to the back
of the queue by the queue....ha!

Ahmed said "tomorrow, ffs... So No 4 hours drinking expensive beer & eating expensive cheese 'sarnis....
TBC Tomorrow ffs.....

Ps: We have never had a TV licence since the age of 15, and have loved all the years of threats, it's all
subcontracted out these days.
They still let us know "WE ARE VISITING YOUR AREA this week!!! "Oh Yeh ???



And we know even know "What channel You are Watching!...Be honest 'you could die laughing.....

[John Landon]

The ONLY thing in those TV detector vans was a thermos flask and bag of tuna and sweetcorn sandwhiches. .

Technically speaking I could take a table fork and hold it in the air, and I am now capable of picking up TV Signals.


My Missis wont have it, she insists on paying a licence, which upsets me somewhat, but its for her peace of mind.
I would give them a piece of my mind if thay had the audacity to turn up at my door.

"Am I legally obliged to answer your questions" ?
( the answer is NO for you feint at heart )
" I dont watch TV"
(prove otherwise )

"Your assumed right of entry to my property has now ben terminated, Have a good day" closes door..

Oh and according to the BBC who have just revoked the free licence for over 75's, they held a poll of 180,000 people
( me or anyone I know not being one of them oddly enough )
they said:
57 % said the licence should remain as it is,
15 % said the licence should be scrapped all together..

You really cannot make this sh1t up ! ..... or can you ? this is the BBC after all..


And now its time for the news, Over to you Pinocchio

[Horus]

I used to think that the BBC was a reasonably impartial source of news and information, but recent events such as the biased interviews and loaded audiences in programmes the likes of Question Time often contradict this, the Beeb certainly has a political left wing agenda. It cannot be denied that the BBC do make some excellent programmes, but they also make a lot of dross and many so called radio and TV hosts are not worth the exorbitant fees they are paid. The most annoying thing is that they impose it even if you do not watch the BBC, receiving any live TV is deemed sufficient to demand the licence fee regardless of who transmitted it. The bottom line is that the BBC is in truth an organ of government, but rather than fund it themselves they have passed the funding on to the general population, the disgusting removal of the free licence for the over 75’s to me justifies the public demand that they are self financed by advertising in the same way as other broadcasters have to, at least then they will live or die by the quality of what they provide and not by extortion.

[John Landon]

[Horus]

I was pleased to see a petition this morning to scrap the BBC licence fee, I signed it and at the time it had reached over 135,000 signatures and I am sure it will go a lot higher judging by peoples reactions to this mean penny pinching action against a vulnerable section of the community. Many of these peoples only contact with the outside world is their TV and they have probably paid the licence fee for most of their lives. At the same time Boris suggests a tax cut for the top 8%, rather reminds you of Teresa May’s last election promise to charge the elderly for their care in old age, that went down really well didn’t it?

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/235653

[carrie]

I very rarely watch TV but BBC radio program's are a Godsend for me. If I were living in the UK I would be more than happy to pay the license fee. Any one over 75 who claims pension credit are still entitled to free licenses thus ensuring that poorer pensioners are not suffering.

[Horus]

Not so, many older people do not even claim the pension credit, in addition even if they have just £1 of pension credit and many do or only qualify for a few pounds, then they too will be deprived of what may be a vital lifeline to them. The current system starts to deprive them of any pension credit the moment they have over £16,000 in savings, hardly mega bucks in this day and age and to many it represents their lifes savings and some form of security in times of need. Most older people are very self reliant and I know many that set money aside to pay for things like their funeral, a funeral today would eat up at least a quarter of those savings, but to subject them to a Means Test in order to qualify is IMO exactly that, 'Mean'

[FarleyFlavors]

Oh and according to the BBC who have just revoked the free licence for over 75's, they held a poll of 180,000 people
( me or anyone I know not being one of them oddly enough )
they said:
57 % said the licence should remain as it is,
15 % said the licence should be scrapped all together..

You really cannot make this sh1t up ! ..... or can you ? this is the BBC after all..

It seems you're confusing the licence fee in general with free licences for the over-75s. The poll was only concerned with the latter and 15% said it should be scrapped.

Let's bear in mind that the free licences were funded by the government in an effort to reduce pensioner poverty, until the Tories axed the benefit in 2015. The BBC simply can't afford to shoulder the burden by itself - it's a fifth of their total budget.

[FarleyFlavors]

the Beeb certainly has a political left wing agenda.

The bottom line is that the BBC is in truth an organ of government

If the BBC is an organ of government, which is Tory the last time I checked, why would it have a left wing agenda?

I used to think that the BBC was a reasonably impartial source of news and information, but recent events such as the biased interviews and loaded audiences in programmes the likes of Question Time often contradict this

The BBC is constantly getting attacked by both sides of the political spectrum. For every claim of a left wing leaning audience in Question Time there's a claim of a right wing one. It didn't take long to find this, for example.

justifies the public demand that they are self financed by advertising in the same way as other broadcasters have to, at least then they will live or die by the quality of what they provide and not by extortion.

The problem is that channels which are financed solely by advertising aren't exactly notable for the "quality" of their output.

[newcastle]

...and frankly, I’d put up with any level of quality or alleged bias to avoid the mind - numbing interjections of advertisements every 20 mins.

Spare me the exhortations to save for my funeral expenses.

[Horus]

If the BBC is an organ of government, which is Tory the last time I checked, why would it have a left wing agenda?

Correction, I should have said 'the government' as in "of the day" but of course you knew that didn't you? It does not change its left wing bias just because the Tory party are in power.

The BBC is constantly getting attacked by both sides of the political spectrum. For every claim of a left wing leaning audience in Question Time there's a claim of a right wing one. It didn't take long to find this, for example.

And of course I can find you many examples to the contrary. Are you really saying that the BBC does not have a bias? just watch any one being interviewed about Brexit, they can hardly make a comment without the comentator butting in.

The problem is that channels which are financed solely by advertising aren't exactly notable for the "quality" of their output.

And neither is the BBC, like all the others they have some good and a lot of bad, for every good BBC proramme you can name there are other broadcasters that have produced similar quality programmes, National Geographic, The History Channel, PBS America are just a few, even SKY, Netflix and Amazon Prime have some good content.

[John Landon]

I am of the opinion that BBC is a mouthpice of Government and by paying for a licence, it gives the illusion of impartiallity.

What many fail to understand about government is that all the fingers are connected to the same hand as I discovered after the last time I voted in 1997 and only took 20 months to realise that.

BBC can go fund itself as far as I am concerned, they are raking it in hand over fist with archive material they sell to other channels. The World service is worse than useless, as I reacall one year when we were in Luxor and they announced that a travel company had gone bust, but didnt say which one ! Very helpful !
Even the decent shows like the ones David Attebourough present cant help themselves and shove in the climate change agenda at evey opportunity, which always now spoils those shows. This justifies government Green taxes which no one seems to know where they are going ? Duck house for politicians moat perhaps ?

They are pouncing on the Pensioners because many people have ralised that they do not have to pay a licence and as such have stopped paying. The BBC are now re targeting the pensioners to make up for lost revenue.

Adverts are everywhere, and the BBC spends a lot of time advertising its own shows anyway, and as I get older, I find commercial breaks are great for a quick toilet break or ciggie break.

TV is so dumbed down in recent years, you need to have a lobotomy to be able to tolerate it. I watch films because I know they are just fantasy..

NEWS is just negative energy, I never watch watch it anyway...



People I speak to outside of the UK cannot belive we pay a licence to watch TV. Nor can I quite franky.

[Horus]

I have a better and more simple idea, make the BBC scramble their signal in the same way as other providers do. Therefore anyone who wishes to view the BBC content can do so, that way all of the free-loaders around the world listening to and receiving free content can happily chip in by having to pay a subscription. Then we should be able to provide the older pensioners with a free viewing pass as the spongers make up the funds by paying for the service they freely partake in. Other services I pay for such as Netflix or Amazon Prime, (I choose not to subscribe to Sky anymore) but I would be happy that anyone over 75 were to get free access to those media outlets once they stopped working. When it comes to news items the independents cover this just as well as the BBC and they are limited in their advertising content during these periods.

[FarleyFlavors]

Are you really saying that the BBC does not have a bias? just watch any one being interviewed about Brexit, they can hardly make a comment without the comentator butting in.

There's simply no evidence that the BBC has left wing bias or is pro-EU. In fact, one study found that the BBC gives more airtime to the Tories than Labour, and that Eurosceptic opinions were more prevalent than pro-EU ones.

The problem is that channels which are financed solely by advertising aren't exactly notable for the "quality" of their output.

And neither is the BBC, like all the others they have some good and a lot of bad, for every good BBC proramme you can name there are other broadcasters that have produced similar quality programmes, National Geographic, The History Channel, PBS America are just a few, even SKY, Netflix and Amazon Prime have some good content.

The fact that you had to provide a string of channel examples kind of proves my point (and you also managed to include two who don't rely on advertising). The BBC produces a vast range of programming which any other single channel just can't match.

Incidentally, the top subscription package on Netflix will shortly be virtually identical to the licence fee. I know which one I'd rather pay for.

[Horus]

You have your opinion and I have mine, what you may choose to believe is the same as what you prefer to watch, Quite what point I proved by naming those channels is lost on me, anyone subscribing to Netflix or Prime is aware they do not advertise, so again, what is your point? I have the choice of paying to view them, but the big brother tactics of the BBC towards anyone who does not pay their viewing tax will be hounded like criminals regardless of whether they watch it or not, you can declare that you do not use the service, but you are made to jump through hoops to do so.

In any event this post was about the withdrawal of the free licence to the over 75's. I like to think that I have a social concience and considering the near poverty levels that many pensioners endure even with their 'pension credit' I am happy to see them get some sort of perk if you want to call it that, so if you are happy to deny them that then again it is your choice.

[FarleyFlavors]

In any event this post was about the withdrawal of the free licence to the over 75's. I like to think that I have a social concience and considering the near poverty levels that many pensioners endure even with their 'pension credit' I am happy to see them get some sort of perk if you want to call it that, so if you are happy to deny them that then again it is your choice.

Conveniently ignoring the point (already made) that it is the removal of the subsidy by the Tory government that is to blame for the BBC being forced to charge wealthier pensioners for their licence.

Is it coincidence that the BBC has announced this whilst we're in the middle of a race for the next Tory leader? I think not. The BBC are probably hoping for a U-turn on the subsidy thanks to the furore.

[Horus]

Wealthier pensioners, most over 75's are on the old system and get a basic of £129.00 per week without any top up as it is based upon a two tier system, if they are lucky they may be getting the new single payment of 168.60 a week hardly what I would call wealthy. You keep banging on about it being the Tory Government that took away the subsidy, wrong, they may have reduced their share of funding but they handed over the responsibility for how it was administered to the BBC, they in turn decided to scrap the concession rather than make cuts in other areas such as paying people like Lineker and that ginger haired cretin Chris Evans more money than they are worth on top of over 300 plus executives being paid over £150,000 p.a.
As to a U-turn, I am pretty confident that if the Tories do not bring in some sort of change to this decision it will hit them even worse than in recent months and then we will get good old Jeremy in power and he will sort it out, hopefully he will promise me many gifts to vote for him, bring it on.

[crewmeal]

Perhaps the BBC should look at the Travel programme and go to places where Mr and Mrs Average go to instead of going to such places that no one can afford. Inform folk about visa requirements. As yet they haven't visited Luxor or anything to do with tourism in the area.