[Football] Gary Lineker to step back from presenting MOTD

[Titanic]

Gary Lineker to step back from presenting MOTD

Gary Lineker to step back from presenting Match of the Day until agreement reached on social media use - BBC statement

www.bbc.co.uk

Gary Lineker is to step back from presenting Match of the Day until an agreement is reached on his social media use - BBC statement.
It follows an impartiality row over comments he made criticising the government's new asylum policy.
In a tweet, the presenter had compared the language used by the government to set out its plan to "that used by Germany in the 30s".

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Is this the same Gary Lineker who uses his " platform leverage" ( whatever that means ? ) to pay less tax to the UK Government..? I thought that HMRC are claiming he has underpaid his tax by over 4,000,000.00 pounds by this method.

If this is true ( ?) doesn't say much for his caring side .....

HMRC are targeting him and other presenters who are self employed, because they say they are employees, not freelancers. Kelly Holmes appealed her case and won.
Gary Lineker works with the BBC, BTSports, and Walkers besides others. He is in partnership with his ex wife so self employed. An appeal is ongoing.

 

[Swansman]

I'm all for reducing the cost of MOTD. Get rid of Lineker. Ridiculous salary. Overhyped individual who feels he has to comment publicly on every social cause in the universe. Dash to be first to pay his respects to those who have passed and tries to be too clever by half with his giggling colleagues. Geez, the highest paid individual on the Beeb. Its staggering. For what he presents, he is not value for money. Get rid.

A good example of the right-wing knowing it would look silly it discussed the actual topic after years of claiming that cancel culture threatens free speech, instead chosing to focus on the quality of Match of the Day and Gary Linekers wages.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Interesting interview from 2021

Good interview. Very clear.

 

[Jim in the West]

My Daughter's partner is Albanian. He entered the country illegally and worked on the carwash circuit for a few years and for the past 5 years or so has had an NI number and has been working hard, nights/days in a job whilst undergoing the visa process. They have to pay somewhere around £2500 every couple of years to extend his visa for (don't quote me) 10 years to enable him to stay eventually. In this period he can't receive any Govt assistance of any type, has to keep his nose clean and work.
Genuine question, why can't the Lawyer and Doctor you mention do this? Any idea? Did they give any reason they couldn't get any work.

Slightly off topic.
My other daughter used to work assisting teenaged and young adult immigrants/refugees in a hostel and amongst being cared for, fed and watered, clothed and having a safe bed to sleep in they were each bought and given PlayStation consoles if they wanted and games and mobile phones and would kick off if they didn't get the latest kit. Just as our teenagers might do.

It's illegal. Your daughter's partner has obviously been successful in his asylum claim. He's one of the lucky ones. There are currently around 150,000 people awaiting the outcome of their claim. The backlog has got progressively larger over the past few years.....almost certainly a deliberate tactic by the Home Office. Meanwhile, those waiting in hotels and hostels live a fairly awful existence. It might seem rather nice to be put up in a hotel - but the reality is that people are living in small rooms, generally with no cooking facilities. The hotels are run by the likes of Serco. Clearly these companies want to make a profit, so generally the staff in the hotels are on minimum wage, the food is poor quality, and any ancillary facilities are out of action. Asylum seekers aren't allowed to work, so often end up spending a lot of their time alone in their rooms, which is obviously not great for their mental health. From my experience, many would be amazing additions to the UK workforce - and it seems strange that we don't want to allow them to work, given the huge need for labour in many sectors.

 

[pocketseagull]

Sounds more like Algernon's daughter's partner never claimed asylum and is now on a spousal visa so a different scenario?

 

[Algernon]

Sounds more like Algernon's daughter's partner never claimed asylum and is now on a spousal visa so a different scenario?

I'm pretty certain he didn't claim asylum and they're not married.
He had to apply for something which was pretty expensive in legal fees and now has to pay to keep the application going every two years. It's cost him and his Albanian family a fortune to give him the opportunity for a better life here in the UK.
He's such a hard working chap, loves his life here and is an excellent partner, and father to my granddaughter.
His mother and father are coming for a holiday here in September and I'm looking forward to meeting the Albanian branch of my family.
My Daughter's also pregnant with their second child due in May.

The only down/upside is that he supports Liverpool. Obvs his local team from childhood.
I've taken every opportunity to take the piss out of him recently.

 

[jcdenton08]

'Tofu eating wokerati'

Tofu is only tolerable in Pot Noodles. It’s basically inedible otherwise. And yes, I realise Pot Noodles are f***ing rank too.

Thank goodness things have come on a lot in recent years for vegetarians and vegans. Imagine having to subsist on tofu!

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Why didn’t they play the theme tune ? It’s usually the best bit.

 

[willalbion]

Where Swansman’s argument falls down is the BBC’s reliance on Charter renewal. Impartiality is central to the conditions of the Charter. The BBC would not exist in its current form (licence fee-funded) without the Charter.
So the BBC is not in a position to turn a blind eye impartiality even if it wanted to. Unless it wanted to commit financial suicide, which it doesn’t.

The BBC has made a mess of impartiality, but that’s a different issue..
Should it be license fee funded anyway? That‘s another different question.
Would it be better to have blatantly bias news coverage like in some other countries? Another question.

All good points.

 

[peterward]

I'm not sure that we should even be giving a platform to fringe lunatics who try to shoot the messenger, like Farage (who seems to genuinely believe Lineker is preaching hate) or GB News, whose attempt at parody was executed so badly, that it became a parody itself.

It wouldn't be very democratic to ban them, but they represent a real danger of deflection and distraction to Lineker's important points. Just look at the comment count - it's approaching 1400, and that's just with a never-ending line of spanners, pretending not to understand Lineker's language.

And then we see the spin.

Right wing spin - Tory commentators and even the Home Secretary link the tweet directly with the Nazi Party’s worst atrocities from the Holocaust in the 40’s and claim it’s antisemitism.

Left wing spin - He didn’t actually mention the Nazi party by name to how can it be that offensive?

Whatever.

The facts are clear though.

In his position, from a professional point of view, that tweet was very ill advised. He must have known the was the opportunity to put as much spin on it as Roberto Carlos got on the ball with that astonishing free kick in France.

Secondly, the actual comparison with language used by the Nazi party in the ‘30s (earlier the clearer) is obvious. Demonising immigrants with the sort of ‘stop the boats’ language was exactly what happened initially in Nazi Germany prior to the unspeakable violence against immigrants superseding the language.

Moving forward, I think that Linekar will not apologise and will rightly keep his role but under a new, crystal clear agreement that takes into consideration if/when he makes these comments again. That could mean measure as simple as putting an agreed disclaimer on his tweets or even the instant cancellation of his contract. These clauses could take a while to be negotiated so I imagine he’ll take a twitter break whilst talks are ongoing and will present MoTD next week.

Thank goodness we weren’t missing the commentary and analysis last night on a game such as the 4-1 destruction of Chelsea, Potter and Cucurella.

Sorry its long!

Linekers important points?

It has nothing to do so much with his right to say what he wants, we all do, wether we're right or wrong. It starts with what he said and wether what he said could bring an employer or its image and reputation into disrepute.....an employer with a SM policy to prevent such incidences.

The general thrust of what Lineker said about then gov policy being callous and heartless (cruel) is right imho and many will agree, but to then make comparisons to 1930s Nazi Germany langauge (which underpinned policy of Genocide) was totally wrong and wholly inaccurate, hes entitled to hold that Ill informed view, but expressing it publically to millions could rightly be deemed damaging to BBC.

The 2 things that all those claiming it is actually the same as 1930s language, actually share in common, is in knowing little of the true realities of 30s Nazi Germany language (which underpinned actions in the 30s and 40s) and using the basic facets of 1930s propaganda!.... keep saying something erroneous enough times and people will eventually accept it as an established truth....even if it isnt!

When Hitler and his Nazis came to power from that very year, Germany’s innocent Jews literally started being killed in Germany from 1933, not 39 or 40s as some suggest. It was in smaller but still significant numbers at first but long before the 1940s well publicised holocaust exponentially accelerated that process. No one in the UK is proposing or killing those coming on Dingys or using language of genocide. It is poor language around a poorly thought out immigration policy, not the genocide of certain sections of British born citizens.

Within 1 year of coming to Power in 1934, Hitler’s Nazis had already condemned hundreds of innocent German born Jewish victims and sent them to die in now prepared Nazi concentration camps and loads more died in German police cells.

Another year later in 1935, 2 years into Hitlers 1933s rise to power, came the intro of the Nuremberg Race laws.

These banned all Jewish people or anyone of a Jewish origin from any government role or work in the German civil service, banned from working in German universities and in most professional vocations. This messaging of Jewish banning and posters denegrating the now murdered and completely excluded Jews was widespread in public places and propaganda news media.

The Nazis forcibly dissolved any relationships of marriage between anyone of Jewish German descent and those who they would call pure Germans (of non Jewish origins).

Jewish shops were looted and set on fire, and already the book bonfires started, 4 years before we entered the war, Hitler was already systematically trying to erase Jewish culture (Genocide), and destroy its literature whilst demonising, banning from public sphere and murdering them (just not yet at later scale)

By the time we had entered war in 39, thousands of Jews had been murdered for no other reason than ethnicity.

And Germany had now for 6 years been awash with images and messaging depicting Jews as pigs, or worse...... it was a total demonisation to justify Hitlers long planned systematic genocide (final solution), that started as soon as he entered power.

The language in 1930s Germany being used for a planned genocide, is absolutely not the same as an incompetent home secretary, dealing badly with 1 policy issue and trying to sound tough with poor language. "An invasion of illegal immigrants" is a callous thing to say, its also callous to say that compares to the true horrors of the genocidal language used and enacted in 1930s Germany. It does not compare to 1930s Germany at all.

Read Robert Paxtons "the anatomy of fascism" (one of leading experts on rise of fascism) or some of Timothy Snyders stuff on the period, and its incomparable to 2023 Britain or our shit government with one policy.

Linekers Equivalence is factually wrong. He may hold or express that view, as his right, if he does so on a public forum as a major face and representative of the BBC who pay him millions of taxpayers money....... They too have a right to say, that factually incorrect assertion breaks impartiality or may damage reputation.

Ofc you're right about idiot and hypocrite farage. He's not spreading hate, he's probably just trying to amp up his point as he was upset with Braverman, but his comparison wasn't accurate.

I hope this madness all ends soon and Lineker is back on MOTD.

 

[1066familyman]

Tofu is only tolerable in Pot Noodles. It’s basically inedible otherwise. And yes, I realise Pot Noodles are f***ing rank too.

Thank goodness things have come on a lot in recent years for vegetarians and vegans. Imagine having to subsist on tofu!

I have smoked sesame seed Tofu in my sandwiches for work pretty much every day I'll have you know. Often with good old fashioned Piccalilli or peanut butter though, and I never, EVER! wear sandals

 

[Originunknown]

So are you now saying that people shouldn’t be allowed to have opinions on things outside that for which they primarily do as part of their jobs?

I’m imaging almost everyone on NSC doesn’t work for BHAFC, are we therefore all banned from offering opinions on the club, and instead have to “stick to plumbing / street cleaning / banking / biomedical research”?

Baseless comparisons to Germany and the war crimes of the era certainly beyond the pale yes.

 

[jcdenton08]

I have smoked sesame seed Tofu in my sandwiches for work pretty much every day I'll have you know. Often with good old fashioned Piccalilli or peanut butter though, and I never, EVER! wear sandals

You’re a mentalist

 

[Originunknown]

Is he “using his platform and reach afforded by football”?
or is it just that he is tweeting as an individual in a way that he might even if he was not well known - plenty of ordinary people tweet opinions every day - and more people take notice because of who he is…… subtle difference.

Not so subtle difference being most don't compare the current government to one that historically orchestrated the Holocaust to their audience of millions of followers.

 

[Jeremiah]

I think the BBC might have stumbled upon a better version of MOTD. Extend the highlights with match commentary and just go through the matches without punditry and endless criticism of VAR and referees, show the league table at the end. Save a fortune in salaries as well.

 

[The Andy Naylor Fan Club]

Not sure if already posted.....

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

Sorry its long!

Linekers important points?

It has nothing to do so much with his right to say what he wants, we all do, wether we're right or wrong. It starts with what he said and wether what he said could bring an employer or its image and reputation into disrepute.....an employer with a SM policy to prevent such incidences.

The general thrust of what Lineker said about then gov policy being callous and heartless (cruel) is right imho and many will agree, but to then make comparisons to 1930s Nazi Germany langauge (which underpinned policy of Genocide) was totally wrong and wholly inaccurate, hes entitled to hold that Ill informed view, but expressing it publically to millions could rightly be deemed damaging to BBC.

The 2 things that all those claiming it is actually the same as 1930s language, actually share in common, is in knowing little of the true realities of 30s Nazi Germany language (which underpinned actions in the 30s and 40s) and using the basic facets of 1930s propaganda!.... keep saying something erroneous enough times and people will eventually accept it as an established truth....even if it isnt!

When Hitler and his Nazis came to power from that very year, Germany’s innocent Jews literally started being killed in Germany from 1933, not 39 or 40s as some suggest. It was in smaller but still significant numbers at first but long before the 1940s well publicised holocaust exponentially accelerated that process. No one in the UK is proposing or killing those coming on Dingys or using language of genocide. It is poor language around a poorly thought out immigration policy, not the genocide of certain sections of British born citizens.

Within 1 year of coming to Power in 1934, Hitler’s Nazis had already condemned hundreds of innocent German born Jewish victims and sent them to die in now prepared Nazi concentration camps and loads more died in German police cells.

Another year later in 1935, 2 years into Hitlers 1933s rise to power, came the intro of the Nuremberg Race laws.

These banned all Jewish people or anyone of a Jewish origin from any government role or work in the German civil service, banned from working in German universities and in most professional vocations. This messaging of Jewish banning and posters denegrating the now murdered and completely excluded Jews was widespread in public places and propaganda news media.

The Nazis forcibly dissolved any relationships of marriage between anyone of Jewish German descent and those who they would call pure Germans (of non Jewish origins).

Jewish shops were looted and set on fire, and already the book bonfires started, 4 years before we entered the war, Hitler was already systematically trying to erase Jewish culture (Genocide), and destroy its literature whilst demonising, banning from public sphere and murdering them (just not yet at later scale)

By the time we had entered war in 39, thousands of Jews had been murdered for no other reason than ethnicity.

And Germany had now for 6 years been awash with images and messaging depicting Jews as pigs, or worse...... it was a total demonisation to justify Hitlers long planned systematic genocide (final solution), that started as soon as he entered power.

The language in 1930s Germany being used for a planned genocide, is absolutely not the same as an incompetent home secretary, dealing badly with 1 policy issue and trying to sound tough with poor language. "An invasion of illegal immigrants" is a callous thing to say, its also callous to say that compares to the true horrors of the genocidal language used and enacted in 1930s Germany. It does not compare to 1930s Germany at all.

Read Robert Paxtons "the anatomy of fascism" (one of leading experts on rise of fascism) or some of Timothy Snyders stuff on the period, and its incomparable to 2023 Britain or our shit government with one policy.

Linekers Equivalence is factually wrong. He may hold or express that view, as his right, if he does so on a public forum as a major face and representative of the BBC who pay him millions of taxpayers money....... They too have a right to say, that factually incorrect assertion breaks impartiality or may damage reputation.

Ofc you're right about idiot and hypocrite farage. He's not spreading hate, he's probably just trying to amp up his point as he was upset with Braverman, but his comparison wasn't accurate.

I hope this madness all ends soon and Lineker is back on MOTD.

He asserted that the language used was similar to that used by the Nazi’s . In this he is correct. He did not accuse Braverman of being a Nazi. Interestingly I had the same thought when I heard her statement and that was before Linekers.

If he had said he agreed with braverman we would not be having this debate because the bbc and the gammons in the Tories wouldn’t have said anything. The fact that Sugar, Neill and Brady have all made political statements that haven’t been challenged because they were not critical of the Tories speaks volumes. Stop trying to defend the indefensible.

The Nazi’s: The road to power on bbc sounds is worth a listen albeit a depressing one. The behaviours and attitudes of the major players in the twenties and early thirties are frighteningly and depressingly familiar….

 

[A1X]

Baseless comparisons to Germany and the war crimes of the era certainly beyond the pale yes.

Doesn't answer the question, have another go.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

MOTD viewing figures up by 500,000 last night. Why? Just curiosity?

 

[Originunknown]

Doesn't answer the question, have another go.

Yes they absolutely shouldn't when their tweets are sensationalist and driven by political agenda, as per Gary's. Whether you agree with tougher laws on immigration in the modern day is not related to the genocide in the war era and that comparison should never be made.