The BBC have been advertising their own stuff for years, at one time many years ago one programme would follow another with just an announcement of what is coming next. Now the programmes all end 5 minutes early so they can get in all their adverts of forthcoming stuff, often next month.
Of course they do @pete ! They have competition now from more independent UK TV plus cable, satellite, streaming and digital feeds from round the world. @redstar if you google a bit further there is plenty of evidence that under Biden the democrats sought to support US farmers by introducing measures to improve food security and diversity and to modernise farming so it better meets the needs of consumers. https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/new...ances-agricultural-exports-support-us-economy How Four Years of Biden Reshaped Food and Farming https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/14/trump-biden-farmers-00135396 2023 a Big Year for Climate-Smart Agriculture, President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda Under Trump and his crazy tariffs the US has lost billions in beef and soya sales to China which has turned to Brazil and Australia instead. Those tariffs also prevented imports of essential phosphates from Canada who have found new markets in Europe and Asia so no fertlisers left for the US farmers. Canada has also geared up its own dairy industry to replace US milk and cheese products as well as upping trade with other nations and the EU. The activities of ICE mean there aren't enough workers left to harvest other crops so they're left to rot and, when all those farmers go bankrupt and have to sell their land cheap, guess who's behind one of the corporate entities buying them up for a song. JD Vance. Nice game.
But surely the point is we pay a licence fee to keep them advert free, in this case we are paying subscription and still getting bombarded with ads, albeit about just what they do. They certainly have their heads up their own backsides, at our expense.
I suspect, technically, it counts as information rather than advertising. It's certainly not good public relations as you are not alone in finding it tedious. On the other hand, those of us who have no access to a Radio Times can find it useful sometimes both for missing the dross and finding an occasional treasure.
Do they still print the Radio Times, I thought most of that was online now, really, although its annoying the amount of information about forthcoming programmes, it is tiny and mostly revolves around just certain things and subjects. If I see that woman wearing a funny hat and a contorted expression on her face again it will drive me crazy.
I remember when it was an annual tradition to buy the Christmas edition of the Radio Times, and eagerly go through it marking the highlights to look forward to. Errol Flynn in ‘The Three Musketeers’, anyone? Doesn’t seem much point now. If there is anything decent on, we probably saw it last year, or the year before. We had subscriptions to Netflix and Apple TV, both of which we cancelled ( I told the first one that if they were going to waste money on M. Markle, they weren’t getting any of it from me) and the second one after we realised that OH had watched ‘Greyhound’ for the twentieth time, but nothing else on the channel! I can’t watch any of the live news programmes on the tv. Why the blazes can’t they just sit down behind a desk, and read out the headlines like they used to? If I’ve got the inclination to try and find out what’s happening in the world, a quick skim through the websites of BBC, the Guardian, the Daily Mail and CNN, provides some interesting cross referencing. And Truth Social for a glimpse into Bedlam.
Trump has just stated in an interview that Europe is decaying and it's leaders weak and stupid. Definitely a case of pot calling kettle black.
Personally I agree, I hate to think what this country and Europe will look and be like in 30 yrs, its only the fact I wont be here that stops me bothering.
I think you are getting it a bit mixed up. We will be part of the third world by then, and the USSR will just be able to walk in without a fight. We are years behind in defending ourselves. And most of the third world will be living here anyway and taken over.
The Lords have tabled over a thousand amendments to the Assisted Dying Bill. At the rate they are going, it should take 2 decades to debate them all. One proposes anyone wishing to be assisted must produce a negative pregnancy test! So, there you are, dying horribly and painfully. I doubt an active sex life is high on your daily routine, even assuming you are (a) female (spoiler alert - only women can get pregnant) and (b) between 18 and 45 (roughly). Sheesh!
Also don't forget that Trump's family are involved in the recent counter bid for Warner bros by Paramount.
