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The BBC contracting issue continues to grab headlines. It's a bit of a mystery why, these are hardly corrupt public servants abusing a broken system, they are essentially normal people contracting in a way that has been common practice for decades. Admittedly the way they went about it was less than orthodox, and for the BBC to set up a microsite explaining how to do it was perhaps not the best idea, but neither really warrants the coverage it's getting.

If the method they were using was actually a clear cut form of tax evasion like moving their money offshore then they would deserve everything they were getting, but for the time being we have no real idea whether they have done anything to legitimately earn the ire of HMRC. It's not even as if the amounts being mentioned are approaching those featured in the MPs expenses scandal (and we can be certain that they are probably all breathing a sigh of relief now that the scandal spotlight is on someone else).

I don't think we could be blamed for wondering if the reasons that we're hearing so much about it in the papers isn't down to the fact that many of them are owned by the same person that owns Sky, a direct competitor and vocal critic of the BBC.

I'm going to leave that line of argument now before it gets me ranting or in trouble.

What should be happening here is we should wait for HMRC to do their job and trust their judgement, it is very unlikely that without this artificial attention that there would have been a problem (I certainly find myself sympathising with whoever is doing the investigation) so we can make any judgements on facts rather than the briefest details.

Hugo
09/10/2009