he’s not your average benefit fraudster – I couldn’t care two shits about any others, its between them and the relevant authorities what happens and whilst the papers have a right to report this I wouldn’t normally bother relaying a relatively mundane crime case to this forum. I also disagree with the ideas of the current government about limiting benefits as all the folk I’ve met who are on them have genuinely needed them.
But this reporter set himself up to expose others wrongdoings, then decided to commit crime. I doubt anyone would want to see a bent copper go unpunished, same should apply to journalists and activists who cross over into a enforcement rôle. I’ve not even got anything against that as I see a lot of eco activists do the same especiallly in this rural area, though I think its common sense they should be of good character, and they should also expect their opponents to monitor them (like what happened to the woman who exposed the turkey cruelty in Norfolk).
Secondly I am still very much an old fashioned socialist who believes in fair public services, benefits for those who need them, and public broadcasters.
This fool is abusing both and playing into the hands of their opponents.
Even the rest of the other idiots what manage to blag work with the BBC (like Jeremy Clarkson for instance) try and stay out of crime, plus this issue with short term working in the media has been a problem for over 20 years. You don’t become a paramedic if you are scared of blood, nor a soldier if you don’t like violence and being shot at, and even in my trade (ICT) the “fun” jobs aren’t the more secure ones.
I strongly think there should be more equitable income distribution in the creative industries (which would solve a lot of these problems, and perhaps even stopped the chap doing crime) but it will take a longer fight to sort this out. its why I do my media production stuff as a hobby rather than paid employment – I’ve worked in the industry before and that took all the fun out of it.
