Gary Lineker

[queenamber]

Clearly the BBC isn't holding everyone to the same standard and I think that's quite worrying for a supposedly democratic national broadcaster. Andrew Neil was a news presenter on the BBC while spouting off his own political opinions both in print and online. I didn't see the BBC up in arms about any of that over impartiality. Seems to be fine as long as it suits their agenda.

 

[FoxyBingo]

All this "support of Lineker" and "solidarity". He's loving this attention and all these pundits are jumping on the bandwagon out of fear of not "showing support". Move on and get on with the jobs you are paid (very well) to do.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

I’m working class and don’t feel impacted by mass immigration. I’m far more worried about the dire state of the NHS, the cost of living and the fact our public services are crumbling around us and I think that’s true of most people. This has been a very convenient ‘dead cat’ story for the government.

Count yourself lucky that you are not impacted by the 'mass immigration'. If you were refused treatment at an NHS hospital and given the reason that there were a 100 immigrants just off the dinghies being treated before you, it may be a different story. Similiarly when a wedding or celebration at a hotel is cancelled due to the four star Hilton being closed due to it being taken over by the government for immigrants.

All public services are affected when the country has this amount of extra people needing the resources, processing is costing £7 million per day. Everybody is impacted indirectly by this so called 'dead cat' story, so don't expect the government to be able to afford increased wages and more resources when finances are being stretched already.

Not against immigration for these people at all, there must be some harsh stories regading their plight to get here.

 

[emmer_moans]

Shame none of them boycotted the bbc when the weans were getting abused off their top men though, how long has Lineker been employed with the BBC? He kept his mouth shut, case off 'uck they were only white British weans, who cares if they were getting tampered with by Saville and Co who were employed by the BBC.
When thousands of young men are entering your country illegally that's no asylum seeking its a slow army.
Because pretty sure most of europe is safe. Wisen up

They've been turning a blind eye to stuff like the pweirdos for years, I understand Gary wanted to speak out about the migrant boats, but excuse me for thinking he's trying to virtue signal/win acclaim about migrants when he should be paying taxes back into our infrastructure that funds the help asylum seekers get. If he's so bothered about that support, then he should be paying what he owes! Also he is often dismissive of women's safety etc on certain current debates so he gets the side eye from me. He is not an earnest person speaking up, he is a hypocrite. And if you sign a contract about impartiality then that's an agreement you make.
---

 

[laughing]

I think it says more about the controlling BBC than Gary

 

[queenamber]

I don’t want to know his Opinions unless it’s about football.

Then don't follow him on Twitter. Simple solution

 

[EnjoyingTheShow]

Let’s hope people still don’t mind “chipping in” to help fund so-called “asylum seekers” (when can we start calling them what they are - “Single, Healthy, Childless, Fighting Age, Economic Benefits Seekers of Indeterminable Origin”), when they’re ahead of you and your family in the queue to get emergency health treatment from a close to breaking NHS facility. Or when they’re causing harm and abuse to you and your family.

The bleedin’ heart liberals are unbelievably entertaining!

By the way, was it Gary’s Qatari-funded Al Jazeera salary he was trying to hide from the Tax Man, or his BBC salary?

 

[neroli]

Find it funny that Shearer and Wright are boycotting, I stopped watching MOTD because of the stale line-up.

MotD could be a lot better without the presenters etc. More actual football highlights and less waffle from arrogant ex pros.

 

[welp]

And another one.

I appreciate that thought but the world was very different in 2011 than it is now. For better or worse.

I'm fully on Lineker's side and utterly shocked over the BBC's behavior. I dont understand why a football presenter has to present a neutral opinion about politics on his SM platform, especially when the core opinion isnt outrageous. But just want to point out that the comparisons like the above are not helpful. I think the fact that the BBC was fine with him voicing his political opinion on a range of other topics, including on their own broadcast (Qatar, perhaps a better comparison) but not on this is the worrying part. It has nothing to do with protecting the BBC being impartial but it's taking a dangerous direction into state-supported propaganda and censorship.

 

[Kiwi_Paddy]

The BBC didn't sanction Laura Kuensberg, then political editor at the BBC, when she was on camera dancing the conga when Johnson became PM, and her clearly biased stance on Brexit, plus her undisguised glee when the leave campaign won. They have not sanctioned Fiona Bruce for her obvious right wing bias during BBC Question Time on several occasions. It seems with impartiality at the Beeb, they overlook it when it suits the Tory agenda, but condemn it and complain about it when it doesn't. That's been clear to me for years now.

Gary's comments were true, it was about language and rhetoric, it did not suggest intent regarding future actions. However the current government is far too populist, and appear to me to have failed to learn from the lessons of history. What planet are they on if they don't realise how dangerous it is to seek to control and manipulatr the media?

Gary Lineker did nothing wrong, his contract did not restrict his freedom of speech. He used his private account to express his opinion. God help us when that freedom is curtailed.

Actually Gary misrepresented history as during the 1930s the Nazis were shutting down their opposition by killing people. As that is not happening in the UK he is talking crap. As I have family friends that were killed during this time, his tweet is very offensive to me. I could care less about football, so hate that I am being forced to pay for him when he can’t even be bothered to learn history.

 

[LeonoreGuest]

Oh I do a lot of reading and I'd consider myself to have knowledge of that period of history. I've never read any Nazi propaganda from the early 1930s that compares to the language used by our government today.

I have a History PhD and the language is entirely comparable. And PS there is nothing 'illegal' about claiming asylum in a different country. That's what international law actually says. It is a mere quirk of history that you aren't in one of those boats, by the way.

 

[L3moning]

 

[Miss polar]

It's cool to hate England so he's just jumped on the latest woke bandwagon. Always helps to throw in a Nazi Germany reference for extra spice.

He's an idiot.

It’s always cool to hate racists, and facists, wherever they come from! Unfortunately, this country has more than it’s fair share!

 

[Allusernamesiputinaretook]

Now Ian Wright is refusing to appear in solidarity with Lineker!

Alan shearer and Alex Scott have both said they won’t appear either

 

[PurvyPanda]

I’m working class and don’t feel impacted by mass immigration. I’m far more worried about the dire state of the NHS, the cost of living and the fact our public services are crumbling around us and I think that’s true of most people. This has been a very convenient ‘dead cat’ story for the government.

Oh dear, how do I break this to you. Pretty much all of the above will be impacted by mass immigration/migration. You don't need to be an economist to work that one out.

Council Tax goes up next month. The majority of the expenditure is delegated to Adult Social Care. What do you think that includes?

People are working harder for less, and that will only get worse. This is how you share the wealth. It will be a drop in the ocean to people like Gary Linekar, but it will be felt more by those of us who don't have his earning power.

 

[L3moning]

If you're not allowed political opinions unless you pay "all of you tax" then there are endless about of people who shouldn't be saying anything. Including some government ministers...

 

[Multi-21]

Gary isn’t a BBC employee, he’s a freelancer who also presents (or has done) on ITV and BT Sport as well as for foreign channels. I don’t know why someone who presents football can’t say what he thinks of politics on his own Twitter account, he didn’t add it on the closing sequence of MOTD.
It’s like anyone who says on their Twitter or LinkedIn - opinions expressed are mine and not necessarily of my employee.

 

[Jen667]

The BBC are terrified that the licence fee will be scraped, which plays a big part in the Lineker crack down. Clarkson left the BBC years ago as did Neil.

Lineker agreed to abide by terms of a contract and then broke them. That's the bottom line.

 

[Spid]

You know someone's in the right when the Daily Mail are trying to get their gammon readers frothing at the mouth about them and it looks like it's working.

Hopefully he opens MOTD with a joke regarding the issue to spite them more

 

[teaandgoss101]

He has invited refugees to live with him. This has been fairly well documented in the press.

I think for most people its the staggering hypocrisy thats so frustrating. The (far) right are always going on about freedom of speech and civil liberties being eroded, and you can bet your life if Lineker had said ‘all asylum seekers are scum‘ or something similar they’d be signing his praised from the roof tops, but because he’s dared to call out their behaviour and attack their beloved poster girl they’ve kicked up a huge fuss and put pressure on the Beeb to remove him from his position.

It is nothing but PR. As someone has stated taking in a carefully vetted student is not comparable.

Most people are not against Immigration- the UK is very diverse. However every country has to make decisions and draw a line. Gary is not impacted by mass immigration in the same way the working class are ….

He has a platform and plenty of funds that could be used to help people. So instead of mouthing off at the government …why don’t he put his money where his mouth is and pick up the bill instead of expecting struggling brits to do it.

I’m not a huge fan of the tories but his tweet was way out of line.