Andrew Marr is paid £600k to spout his pseudo-communist nonsense on the BBC

[longfingernails]

Sorry I've been away for so long, but we had a family illness... thankfully all is OK now.

Anyway, I was outraged to learn that Andrew Marr is paid such massive sums of our money to read out Guardian editorials on the BBC - and we are not able to do anything about it. A fair salary for his job would be more like £60k.

If he wants to earn more, he could go and work for a private broadcaster.

All BBC salaries should be disclosed, in full, as soon as possible. Then, all BBC salaries should be capped at a maximum of £100k.

I do hope no-one missed me too much .

Stop using txt spk and stop being so easily wound-up!

who's wound up? am enjoying this and franca u should enquire of claig what's wrong with being a prodi supporter as she's the one who made the implication. will leave u to it.

georgeorwell, the majority of Republicans and Tea Party type voters never liked the neocons. The neocons had to pretend that they were conservatives, they couldn't be frank and say we are ex-leftists, we despise everything you stand for. They were cleverer than that. But Christopher Hitchens was big enough not to hide his admiration for Trotsky, Bolshevism and revolution, while simultaneously being the darling of the neocons. He didn't care, he is above the people, above the good Republican voters.

I don't dislike Hitchens, he is a very clever man, and I am sorry to hear that he has cancer. I hope he makes a full recovery.

There's nothing wrong with being a Prodi voter.

Sadly, I don't think I'll have the opportunity to vote for Prodi again, as he has left the scene.

franca i saw him just the other day (he lives a few streets away from me) and he said he'd never get dirty again. (not too difficult to interpret). he now teaches in various prestigious uni's around the world. wonder what berluska will do post politics?

Berluskaiser post politics? No idea, I think we'll never get rid of him! Purtroppo.

ok claig according to my trot comrades you could say hitchens was a trot as was (WAS) member of Socialist Worker Party which is trotskyite. but he is not and never has been a neocon. a misguided support of war in iraq does not a neocon make.

and to assert that the neocon ideology was borne out of trotskyism is a very moot point. a few ex trots does not a radical imperialist conservative movement make. if anything the neocons are more stalinist in nature.

must go breastfeed now. have tried to do it onehanded so can type simultaneously but baby gets tetchy. hopefully he'll be a trot too!

Hitchens never denies what he is i.e a Trot, an admirer of Lenin and Trotsky and revolution. From wikipedia, he says below that he is "not a conservative of any kind" and that is true.

'His numerous editorials in support of the Iraq War caused some to label him a neoconservative, while Hitchens insists he is not "a conservative of any kind."[7]'

He is not a conservative, he is still a leftist. But he is the darling of the neocons. All over Fox News banging the neocon drum. Why? Because the neocons aren't conservatives either, they share his leftist views. They believe in the revoltionary force, just as he does

'Hitchens believes that if neoconservatism ?can become dominant within the Republican Party, it can turn US power into a revolutionary force.?'

Wikipedia goes on to say:

'In the United States he became increasingly critical of what he called "excuse making" on the left. At the same time, he was attracted to the foreign policy ideas of some on the Republican right that promoted pro-liberalism intervention, especially the neoconservative group that included Paul Wolfowitz.[57] Around this time, he befriended the Iraqi dissident and businessman Ahmed Chalabi.[58] In 2004, Hitchens stated that neoconservative support for US intervention in Iraq convinced him that he was "on the same side as the neo-conservatives" when it came to contemporary foreign policy issues.[59] He has also been known to refer to his association with "temporary neocon allies".[60]'

The neocons are a 'new', temporary phenomenon, they weren't meant to last, they just pretended that they were conservatives. They will go back to their core leftist beliefs, just as he has done. The neocons were pulling a con, they were Trotsky tricking the real conservatives. Neocons are temporary, they are a disguise of the Trots.

Here is a Guardian interview with Hitchens, where the interviewer describes him as going from a hero of the left to neocon turncoat. But he is not really a turncoat, because the neocons are also really left, just pretending that they are right. Trots are nothing if not clever.

From hero of the left to neocon turncoat

You can't take every word that a Trot says at face value, because they are also prone to say "four legs good, two legs better".

george. I hope you've got a baby to feed, the general consesus from the posts, suggests you may be a bloke.

Thankyou for the link Claig. I've found more about Hitchen's than I wish to know. I never realised he was a Marxist. He says he is in the interview. He also looks quite ill, sad really. Anyway keep posting about neoconservatism, have not got a clue about it.
Trots, I always thought they were unhinged, nutters with SWP banners. Perhaps I'm wrong, I'm sure I'll be put right on this thread.

'consensus'

'Trots, I always thought they were unhinged, nutters with SWP banners. Perhaps I'm wrong'

no, I think you're right. But they do disguise themselves to fool real conservatives.

ooh imright thanks for the incisive, insightful comments. general consensus? that'll be comp and claig again then will it? ffs never thought i'd haveto prove my gender but there's cyberland for u and the reason i'd always given it a bodyswerve until now and being (happily) stuck at home with a baby.

if hitchens was claimed as one of their own by the neocons doesn't mean he was one. if he lost it slightly circa the iraq war, that's not to be held against him for eternity as he's since seen the error of his ways. (check out his subjecting himself to waterboarding to prove how awful it is after rummy basically said it was harmless).

must go back now to pretending to be a woman.

christopher hitchens is terminally ill with cancer imright as i've already mentioned on this thread and yes he IS and always has been a marxist as all rational thinkers are. read it more carefully next time. the level of debate is quite low here if you think all trots are members of SWP. there's such a thing as the socialist party.

Still of the opinion they are nutters.

georgeorwell. I have just looked at the Socialist Party webpage. Do I qualify to join?
I'm a black lesbian, I talk with a lisp, I walk with a limp, I dont wear make-up, I have a moustache, I hate men, I'm an asylum seeker (economic migrant). I want the overthrow of this government ( or any)I will replace foxhunting (as they are still doing it!) by hunting the middle classes, and the landed gentry. I will poke the royals with a sharp stick! I'm very bitter at the moment as I was sectioned for aggressive behaviour in a public place. (just because I was waving an axe around!) I will shortly be released from Broadmoor.

I do qualify don't I?

Back to the OP. It looks like Andrew Marr might not pay income tax on his £600k PA 'salary' as he's a freelancer. So he need only pay the lower rated corporation tax!

If true that would make him both very rich and a tax avoider.

Imright - do you work for the BBC ?

when has a username ever been so wrong, imright?

must nip out now to stock up on some clinique foundation.

it's a luscious website though isn't it? my very good friend is coming round in later who contributes to it. we will then indulge in lesbian rumpypumpy.

I work for the BBC.

I've been there over ten years, want me to disclose my salary?

drum roll....

just over £21,000

carminaburana. I wished I did work for the BBC I would have a job for life. (unless I were an old ugly female presenter, then I'd be sacked).

But with my above credentials they should certainly employ me!

georgeorwell. Do behave! otherwise you'll excite all the other posters!

Back to Andrew Marr. How many other presenters are 'freelancers?' What was Jonathan Ross's status?
He was paid a packet. Paxman is a freelancer isn't he?