Huw Edwards arrives at court this morning

The mural of Huw Edwards, in his home town of Llanelli has been removed.

RosiesMaw2

It’s not enough for the BBC to bleat that “Lessons must be learnt”- they should lose their charter (or licence or whatever it is) and companies and independent broadcasters should tender for fixed term contracts.
A bit like when the railways were privatised.
Oh I know there would be total chaos but the BBC has become some sort of sacred cow about whom nothing may be said or done.
We have seen what stratospheric salaries they get from public money (for reading the news? Or discussing a football match. How hard is that?)
If they can do better than the competition they might get the contract but these should be fixed term and liable to cancellation of they do not meet the requisite standards.

👏👏👏

The BBC thinks it is untouchable.

I understand the frustration and anger that he continued to be paid and even got a pay increase. Legally in employment regs, this had to happen. What we’ve learned about Edwards since the story broke, confirms he’s self seeking, arrogant and very capable of going to law if the bbc hadn’t followed regulations.

The number of sex offenders who either aren’t charged or get a not guilty finding on a technicality is not small.

Times like these we are glad that the ‘trashy tabloids’ kept digging. The BBC were complicit. And ‘mental health issues’ have become ubiquitous. The new ‘bad back’. Difficult to disprove.

I wonder did his wife have any idea about his dirty little secret?

Callistemon213

Iam64

It’s been suggested on gransnet previously that people who work in safeguarding ‘see it everywhere’ and over exaggerate. Very naive and in truth offensive

Yes, it is.

I'd call it being aware and not naïve and too trusting like many people I know.

I totally agree with this. I have come across people like that in my Safeguarding work.
A lot of fuss about nothing, I have been told.

Kandinsky

I wonder did his wife have any idea about his dirty little secret?

as she exposed him to the police re the previous investigation and they were living separately for years, I imagine she must have had her suspicions..

Callistemon213

RosiesMaw2

It’s not enough for the BBC to bleat that “Lessons must be learnt”- they should lose their charter (or licence or whatever it is) and companies and independent broadcasters should tender for fixed term contracts.
A bit like when the railways were privatised.
Oh I know there would be total chaos but the BBC has become some sort of sacred cow about whom nothing may be said or done.
We have seen what stratospheric salaries they get from public money (for reading the news? Or discussing a football match. How hard is that?)
If they can do better than the competition they might get the contract but these should be fixed term and liable to cancellation of they do not meet the requisite standards.

👏👏👏

The BBC thinks it is untouchable.

This - I'm saying "this" because I emphatically agree with both comments, The BBC is indeed treated like a sacred cow. This latest debacle is a well trodden path with them. They treat some of their high profile people like demi gods paying them highly inflated salaries out of the public purse. They no longer operate in a world where people have a limited choice of a couple of other tv channels.

Iam64

I understand the frustration and anger that he continued to be paid and even got a pay increase. Legally in employment regs, this had to happen. What we’ve learned about Edwards since the story broke, confirms he’s self seeking, arrogant and very capable of going to law if the bbc hadn’t followed regulations.

The number of sex offenders who either aren’t charged or get a not guilty finding on a technicality is not small.

I agree it was in employment regs, I question the amounts a small number of people get paid.

It adds up to an ongoing concern about the BBC, Saville, Dr Who, Strictly, etc. Now it might just be that it's a large organisation that has existed for a long time, so like any organisation it will have unpleasant people and criminals within it. Or it could be a cultural problem within the organisation, both ideas are possibilities.

What we have learned about Edwards we have learned by reading the tabloids

Well, even the BBC has reported the news.

I dont read the tabloids, I heard it on the news.

I really value the fact that we have an independent source of news and comment (ie the BBC). I would hate to see it financed by adverts, as this massively curtails the sorts of things that can be reported on. Similarly, I wouldn't want to see it come under government supervision, or move to a subscription model.

Having said that, maybe there should be a ceiling on salaries, or confine presenter salaries to a fixed percentage of the licence fee to limit the amount that can be spent on them overall. There doesn't seem to be enough money to spend on the quality drama that the BBC used to be famous for, and maybe if less was spent on individual presenters that balance could be reset.

Galaxy

I dont read the tabloids, I heard it on the news.

Yes, I don't read tabloids either, but I am well aware of the story.

How independent can they be when it is their own staff involved?

I pity his poor ex-wife and especially his 5 children.

I do too ‘NanKate*. I’m not sure how you ever get over such a betrayal by somebody you loved and thought you knew.

I don’t totally buy the BBC being at fault and should be closed down though, because I’ve worked in large organisations with HR policies that protect the employee through all eventualities. It’s not dissimilar to the Philip Schofield scenario in many ways, and ITV came under the same degree of scrutiny. The issue is that somebody is innocent until proven guilty.

Callistemon213

How independent can they be when it is their own staff involved?

I meant financially independent of advertisers and government.

I'm not sure I understand how they can be independent or otherwise when it comes to abusers. Unless you are implying that they were complicit? I very much doubt it, but as has been pointed out, there is employment law and also laws to protect the 'innocent' until proven guilty.

Look at the outcry on here when people tried to even discuss it - we were told that we were sensationalising, scandal-mongering, tabloid reading harridans, who would have enjoyed knitting at the guillotine. It was the same with Schofield. We are just chatting online. If the BBC had taken action at the time they would have been breaking the law, and think of the hoo haa that would have caused.

I agree that if the knew what was happening and covered it up (as with Savile) then the 'lessons learned' from Operation Yewtree need to be revisited, but I don't know that there is a suggestion of that? I also think that the Mental Health defence should be tightened. It's tricky, as obviously people shouldn't be hounded if they are innocent, but to basically threaten suicide as a way of deflecting from a serious offence shouldn't be an option.

Schofield did not break the law, the tabloids hounded him

He's still to keep his £300,000 pa pension. Hard to imagine a pension that size.

Anniebach

Schofield did not break the law, the tabloids hounded him

I was talking about the way the case was handled though Anniebach. HR policies protected them both until the full picture emerged.

🤬

That's my money!!
(Well a portion of my licence fee.)

I wonder how many people will refuse to pay their licence fee as a result of this and other scandals at the BBC?
Scandals? I should say crimininality.
Cover-ups.

Criminality.

Sorry, got a muzzy head cold.

Aveline

He's still to keep his £300,000 pa pension. Hard to imagine a pension that size.

Pension entitlement seems a tricky issue.

Police officers who have been convicted of awful offences (thinking of Wayne Coussens in particular) still seem able to keep their pensions as they have contributed to them or something. Not sure of precise details.

I agree Huw Edwards’s pension seems huge.