DAILY MAIL COMMENT: BBC impartiality is now just an illusion
What hope now for BBC impartiality? If it's acceptable for a celebrity presenter to equate government policy with the rise of 1930s Nazism, then no political smear is off-limits.
Gary Lineker and a small band of entitled, overpaid sports presenters have held the BBC to ransom. And they have won.
After rightly suspending the Match Of The Day anchorman for his offensive slur on those who oppose illegal migration, director-general Tim Davie performed a humiliating climbdown yesterday.
As a result, Lineker will be back on air without so much as a slap on the wrist, raising serious questions about Mr Davie's position and the future direction of the corporation. The decision is an insult to millions of decent licence-fee payers who believe illegal cross-Channel migration should be stopped. They have effectively been branded bigots.
![What hope now for BBC impartiality? If it's acceptable for a celebrity presenter to equate government policy with the rise of 1930s Nazism, then no political smear is off-limits](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/14/01/68671545-11856627-image-a-92_1678757997378.jpg)
What hope now for BBC impartiality? If it's acceptable for a celebrity presenter to equate government policy with the rise of 1930s Nazism, then no political smear is off-limits
![Gary Lineker and a small band of entitled, overpaid sports presenters have held the BBC to ransom. And they have won](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/14/01/68671531-11856627-image-a-93_1678758002109.jpg)
Gary Lineker and a small band of entitled, overpaid sports presenters have held the BBC to ransom. And they have won
The Left is naturally cock-a-hoop. Alastair Campbell congratulated Saint Gary for standing up to 'Right-wing authoritarianism'. Coming from Labour's leading loud-mouthed bully boy, this was pretty rich.
As were Lineker's own patronising outpourings. Britain remains 'a country of predominantly tolerant, welcoming and generous people', he said. Thanks Gary, but we don't need a cosseted multi-millionaire to tell us that.
All along, Lineker's allies presented this saga as a battle for free speech. But it was far bigger than that. It was about whether the corporation still has any pretensions to political neutrality, or has simply succumbed to the metropolitan anti-Tory Left. Yesterday, we had our answer. At Broadcasting House, diversity of opinion is dead.
Hunting trade-off
For most of us, there is something profoundly distasteful about seeing a grinning trophy-hunter posing for pictures with a lion or elephant he or she has just killed. Usually rich and often kitted out in naff designer safari suits, they compare very badly with the noble beasts they slaughter for pleasure.
But those whose job it is to preserve big game animals in their natural habitat see these hobby hunters in a very different light. Paying tens of thousands of pounds for their few days of 'sport', they provide a vital financial lifeline for conservation.
Their money is used to fund anti-poaching patrols and to educate rural communities on the importance of protecting wild animals. Furthermore, the animals killed are part of a carefully monitored annual cull to manage numbers and maintain the good health of the wider stock.
So representatives of four African countries have now written to UK Development minister Andrew Mitchell urging him to reconsider a new Bill which would ban the import of hunting trophies.
![It would be a tragedy if, through sentimentality and muddled thinking, they were to cause lasting harm to the very animals they want to save](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/14/01/68671567-11856627-image-a-94_1678758032388.jpg)
It would be a tragedy if, through sentimentality and muddled thinking, they were to cause lasting harm to the very animals they want to save
The intention may be good, but telling Africans what to do with their wildlife is not only ignorant but also a form of neo-colonialism, they say.
Supporters of this Bill should put emotion aside and heed this plea from people who really know what they are talking about.
It would be a tragedy if, through sentimentality and muddled thinking, they were to cause lasting harm to the very animals they want to save.
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