BETWEEN them, John McArthur and Iain AD Mann (Letters, July 21) have hit the nail right on the head. No-one earns the sort of money that the BBC and others are paying to the self-important people of our inward-looking UK, particularly in the overheated south-east of England. The gender pay gap, while important, pales into insignificance when it comes to these pay levels, but is critical when it comes to the like of local authority staff.
It would now be interesting to see what the BBC pays its cleaners, or is this work, just like that of David Dimbleby, contracted out, so that the "public servants" at the top of the BBC do not suffer the embarrassment of paying, in the case of cleaners, the minimum wage?
Patricia Fort,
15 Lanark Street, Glasgow.
THE revelation that the BBC's Match of The Day presenters Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer earn more for reading from an autocue than the £2 million BBC pays annually for Scottish football coverage highlights the poor deal Scotland gets from the BBC (“BBC salaries listing sparks equal pay row in corporation”, The Herald, July 20).
Each year the BBC pays £68m for English football league highlights plus £16m a year for live FA Cup ties, which on a population basis would produce £7 million for Scottish clubs.
However as reported in May 2015, the BBC's director of sport thinks Scottish licence fee payers don't merit a population share and this despite the fact that our state broadcaster has a duty to reflect all the nations in the UK.
The BBC is not a commercial organisation like Sky or BT who also undervalue Scottish football despite pro rata viewing figures being on a par with most English games, and the recent Deloitte annual review of football finance for 2015/16 shows that Scottish football gets a shocking broadcasting deal when compared to Denmark. Scotland received £19m in total broadcasting rights whereas Denmark got £70m and from this season Norwegian clubs will earn £35.6m a year for their domestic TV rights.
Fraser Grant,
Warrender Park Road, Edinburgh.
HOW kind of you to print (“BBC pay row: Scots ‘second class’”, The Herald, July 21) a fine photograph of the number one BBC pin-up in the view of this octogenarian pensioner, the delightful weather forecaster Judith Ralston. And how good that despite her underpaid status she can still smile and scatter a few coins in defiance of the London brigade.
I sincerely hope Ms Ralston will not be tempted south to the capital on the grounds of filthy lucre; she brightens the dullest day. And if she is ever in need of another outfit for even more adornment, I'm sure many fans, myself included, will be happy to chip in a bob or two. But she's really too gracious ever to ask.
James McIntyre,
Bonnaughton Road, Bearsden.
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