It's a hard life, being a grumpy person. It's not that there isn't plenty to be grumpy about - God knows, you can take your pick, hardly a day goes by without some new and ridiculous piece of nonsense from those who ought to know better (and are, in most cases, actually paid to know better).
Trouble is, we have to rely on newspapers and television for our information, or on the statements made by public bodies. It's a wide world out there, and no single person has the resources to check and verify every story. But are newspapers and public bodies to be trusted? How can we sort out the wheat from the chaff?
Take this story, for instance, from the Telegraph …
Lifeboat crews fear being scuppered by crippling new charges for using their radios from Ofcom, the communications regulator. The RNLI could see the price of using its VHF emergency frequencies rise to £250,000 under plans to charge the full commercial rate.
The charity which saves hundreds of lives every year, currently pays an annual £48,000 at a discounted rate of 50 per cent. It relies on donations and fears the move will have a disastrous impact on fundraising. Peter Bradley, RNLI operations staff officer, said 'It's a lot of money when you think in terms of lifeboat days and little old ladies collecting pound coins. We could buy several inshore lifeboats for the same amount.'
'The Government rely on us to provide this search-and-rescue service, at a cost of £124 million a year, but they want to charge us for doing it!'
Ofcom has set out plans to bring 'market forces' into maritime and civil aviation communications in a policy it calls Administered Incentive Pricing.
There is even a No.10 petition about it. It still has ten months to run, so if you want to sign it, click here.
23,000 people have already signed the petition, which says "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to protect the RNLI from paying licence fees for using Maritime radio frequencies. As reported in the Sunday Telegraph on the 28th September 2008, Ofcom wants to bring "market forces" into the maritime and aviation communications. The RNLI will have to pay £250,000 a year, and "smaller search and rescue charities fear they may have to close". This proposal must be rejected wholeheartedly."
All well and good, you might think. We all know where we stand on this issue, I'm sure. But wait - there's more.
If you click on the link above, you'll find the following statement:
Although this petition is not due to close until 8 October 2009, Ofcom have contacted the Prime Minister's office, and asked that we publish the following clarification:
Ofcom has been consulting on introducing spectrum pricing to the aeronautical and maritime sectors. We are doing this because radio spectrum is a scarce and valuable resource and lots of different users want to use it. It's important that it is managed as efficiently as possible, because then society as a whole can get the most out of the finite amount available.
One of the ways that we try to achieve this is by charging users for the spectrum - or airwaves - they use. This already includes a huge array of public and private sector users, including MOD, NHS, ambulance, police and taxi firms. But we recognise the special position of safety of life charities, which is why they receive a 50 per cent discount on their current fees.
What we are proposing in the maritime case is simply to change the ways fees are worked out so that they aren't based on the admin costs of issuing a licence, but on how much spectrum is used. Under our proposals the RNLI might actually pay less than they do now. We estimate that they could pay around £20,000 compared to the £40,000 that they currently pay.
So, what do we think? Careless, irresponsible reporting by the Telegraph? Hysterical over-reaction from the RNLI spokesman? Or dishonesty on the part of Ofcom?
You just don't know who to believe, do you? And that makes us bloody furious.
Bastards.
either on this site or on the World Wide Web.
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