British Broadcorping Castration

The letter arrived yesterday. You know, the one where the Beeb want to renew acquaintance with my bank account.

Not decided how to respond yet. Maybe I should ask about tax avoidance and G Lineker etc. Or perhaps who is the bigger tax dodger, Lineker G or Vince D. Yes I know Vince isn't paid by the Beeb and isn't interested in money anyway but what does media-friendly Vince do with the million quid a year he draws in interest free loans from Ecotricity?

According to the Beeb, Vince has now teamed up with Hector Bellerin in another half-baked, half-reported bit of Vince-U-Like propaganda. I don't suppose it occurred to Mr Magowan to ask how much Bellerin paid for  a 'shareholding not above a threshold where it would be deemed a conflict of interest' or whose £13million it actually was that's been spent so far on FGR. Its Vince's principle vanity project but its not actually his money though he seems to treat it as if it was.


If you are reading this, Sluffy, you might try looking up a company called Hebemo and ask yourself what you think its purpose is and where you think that money's come from. Doesn't look like its been spending its dosh on planting trees in the Amazon, does it?


 Sorry about the font sizing. Is there an option to amend it?

I’m not overly enamoured with how the Beeb is funded either although I do like their advert free quality programming. Nor am I particularly impressed with Dale Vince etc.
However the ethical nitpicking you and my admirer revel in would produce similar questions over the majority of business owners in the U.K. - unless you are naive enough to think that British business owners are scrupulously honest in their declarations of interest, tax returns, and investments. 
Even the churches - ostensibly the paragon of ethics - have a skeleton or ten.
But if dirt-digging is your hobby, why not have a look into the funding of e.g. the Tory party or the Brexit campaign who reward their investors with jobs, peerages and financially beneficial judgements and acts of Parliament that are often at the expense of the whole country?
You did see how Murdoch was given his licence extension and how much money his son in law Odey made out of Brexit didn’t you? Vince isn’t a saint, but if you want some really juicy scandalous business practice I can heartily recommend the Tory “rewards for cash” scheme.

It’s pretty apparent that the right wing #defundthebbc campaign is a loosely coordinated attack on the Beeb disguised as a people’s movement but it has to be asked if the Express and Murdoch’s Sun came to the party late or were held back to make it look like something other than a scheme to increase Murdochs market share.

Licence fee is still a damn sight cheaper than SKY.

Ten Bobsworth wrote: Sorry about the font sizing. Is there an option to amend it?

Let me answer this point first.

The font size altering is a bit of a pain on this site I agree.

It happens as you will have noticed in your post above when you copy and paste from somewhere else.

The system on here the 'defaults' to the settings of the article you copied from rather than revert back to normal.

The way you have to 'manage' this and other things like copying images, is through using the bottom right icon on the list of options above the 'box' you write your post in.

This icon looks like a sheet of paper with lines on.

The default position is the sheet with a grey background, but if you click on it, it has a white background.

If you use the 'white' background all the time it avoids the problem of the size change when copy and pasting from somewhere else - but then cause issues when you want to copy and paste pictures (you have to click back to the grey setting first to do that - then click back to white again thereafter).

It all sounds a bit complicated but it really isn't once you get the hang of doing it - but it is a bit of an unnecessary nuisance really and nothing we can do about it as the site is set up this way and we can't change it at our end.

Sorry to everybody for the inconvenience of it.

Whilst you’re in this mode Sluffy can you tell me how to get rid of the flashing message alert at the top of the page which is there even when I have no unread messages?
I’ve tried selecting all and then marking all as read but it won’t go away.

wanderlust wrote:Whilst you’re in this mode Sluffy can you tell me how to get rid of the flashing message alert at the top of the page which is there even when I have no unread messages?
I’ve tried selecting all and then marking all as read but it won’t go away.

Have you tried simply clicking on it?

Sluffy wrote:

Have you tried simply clicking on it?

Never thought of that...

No of course I have. Opens my inbox - which has no unread messages.
When I return to home page the “1unread message” flashy thing is still there.

It does change to 2 unread messages when someone pms me but goes back to 1 when I check it out.

wanderlust wrote:

Sluffy wrote:

Have you tried simply clicking on it?

Never thought of that...

No of course I have. Opens my inbox - which has no unread messages.
When I return to home page the “1unread message” flashy thing is still there.

It does change to 2 unread messages when someone pms me but goes back to 1 when I check it out.

Don't know then.

Have you tried logging out of your account and logging back in again, maybe that will do the trick?

Sluffy wrote:

Don't know then.

Have you tried logging out of your account and logging back in again, maybe that will do the trick?

I’ve tried everything bar hitting it with a hammer. Persistent little f***** won’t budge.

wanderlust wrote:

Sluffy wrote:

Don't know then.

Have you tried logging out of your account and logging back in again, maybe that will do the trick?

I’ve tried everything bar hitting it with a hammer. Persistent little f***** won’t budge.

Have you tried deleting your cookies and clicking on Nuts again - maybe that might shift it?

(Also is it a problem on all your 'entry's' on to Nuts - what I mean is it a problem say on your phone but not on your laptop - if so the issue might be more to do with your particular hardware/software linking to here, rather than here itself?)

Good solid IT advice there Sluffy, turn it off and on again 

Isn't that the mantra from all IT people? That's what they always tell me to do at work.

Sluffy wrote:

Have you tried deleting your cookies and clicking on Nuts again - maybe that might shift it?

(Also is it a problem on all your 'entry's' on to Nuts - what I mean is it a problem say on your phone but not on your laptop - if so the issue might be more to do with your particular hardware/software linking to here, rather than here itself?)

Dunno. But it’s the same with every device I log on with (iPhone iMac or pc)

Norpig wrote:Good solid IT advice there Sluffy, turn it off and on again 

Isn't that the mantra from all IT people? That's what they always tell me to do at work.

I'm no IT expert, I'm just suggesting the sort of stuff I would try.

It is surprising though how many people miss the obvious and that's why I'm simply suggesting/reminding them of.

wanderlust wrote:

Sluffy wrote:

Have you tried deleting your cookies and clicking on Nuts again - maybe that might shift it?

(Also is it a problem on all your 'entry's' on to Nuts - what I mean is it a problem say on your phone but not on your laptop - if so the issue might be more to do with your particular hardware/software linking to here, rather than here itself?)

Dunno. But it’s the same with every device I log on with (iPhone iMac or pc)

What I'll do then, if it's ok with you, is to switch off your ability to SEND pm's (I can't see anything saying I can switch off for you being able to receive them). Once I've done that, if you log out, then log back in again, then maybe it might re-set itself?

I'll wait until you are ok with this before doing it though.

Sluffy wrote:



I'm no IT expert, I'm just suggesting the sort of stuff I would try.

It is surprising though how many people miss the obvious and that's why I'm simply suggesting/reminding them of.

Thanks for trying however searching the database that underpins the site should identify the issue but I don’t have admin access to this site.

Sluffy wrote:

Let me answer this point first.

The font size altering is a bit of a pain on this site I agree.

It happens as you will have noticed in your post above when you copy and paste from somewhere else.

The system on here the 'defaults' to the settings of the article you copied from rather than revert back to normal.

The way you have to 'manage' this and other things like copying images, is through using the bottom right icon on the list of options above the 'box' you write your post in.

This icon looks like a sheet of paper with lines on.

The default position is the sheet with a grey background, but if you click on it, it has a white background.

If you use the 'white' background all the time it avoids the problem of the size change when copy and pasting from somewhere else - but then cause issues when you want to copy and paste pictures (you have to click back to the grey setting first to do that - then click back to white again thereafter).

It all sounds a bit complicated but it really isn't once you get the hang of doing it - but it is a bit of an unnecessary nuisance really and nothing we can do about it as the site is set up this way and we can't change it at our end.

Sorry to everybody for the inconvenience of it.

Thanks for the explanation, Sluffy, but I'm not really over-fussed about font sizes. What's more noteworthy is how the usual suspects always fail completely to distinguish between corporate standards and personal standards and just trot out the usual feeble excuse that everybody's doing it so why pick on 'high profile, high horse' individuals?

Everybody ain't doing it. It takes a certain type in my long experience, but Hector Bellerin is still an idealistic young man and I'd say deserves a bit more latitude. Have you taken a look at Hebemo yet?

wanderlust wrote:

Sluffy wrote:



I'm no IT expert, I'm just suggesting the sort of stuff I would try.

It is surprising though how many people miss the obvious and that's why I'm simply suggesting/reminding them of.

Thanks for trying however searching the database that underpins the site should identify the issue but I don’t have admin access to this site.

I suspect the unread message is in another page so click through the pages and see if you can find it there.  Mark all, will only mark all on the active page.

Not a proper one.

I trust you notice that Bellerin and the other Director of Hebemo have just registered a new company on the 4th June, called Evergreen Eco-Capital Ltd and that Bellerin seems to be a partner with him in another company Vegang App Ltd.

I believe Hector is the sole shareholder of Hebemo, which seems to have a lot of money in the bank £920k of which a big chunk (around £500k went in as shown in the June 2018 accounts, I also note that the intangible fixed assets seem to be 'image rights', and that there seems to be a nice car involved (see Finance Lease Obligations).

This seems to be his fellow Director's Twitter account -

You'd think buying a stake in a football club would be extremely difficult. But when you bring two entities together with a strong shared mission & vision the negotiations become very smooth

Big thank you to @HenryStaelens & @DaleVince for the open minded approach to the project https://t.co/yk6iz3dYwS

— Ehsen Shah (@EhsenTweets) September 8, 2020

Company House link to this company -
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08732089

I can't seem to track down a website or anything for Hebemo but it states it's business is "other sports activities' so I'm guessing dealing with 'image rights' and stuff like that?

And nope I can't find anything about planting trees in the Amazon but his mate's company is tweeting about it!

Why Arsenal’s @HectorBellerin Is Planting 58,617 Trees In The Amazon: via @forbes https://t.co/fkaMCIPbUh

— B-Engaged (@BEngagedUK) September 1, 2020

So, you've beaten me, I don't know where the money has come from (Hector seems to be owed around £365k though - Directors Transactions), I don't know what the company does and I can't seem to find that it's spent anything on trees either in the Amazon or even at a Forest near Green Rovers.

BoltonTillIDie wrote:
I suspect the unread message is in another page so click through the pages and see if you can find it there.  Mark all, will only mark all on the active page.

Top advice! Caught the rascal on p4 of the inbox. Cheers.

Sluffy wrote:Not a proper one.

I trust you notice that Bellerin and the other Director of Hebemo have just registered a new company on the 4th June, called Evergreen Eco-Capital Ltd and that Bellerin seems to be a partner with him in another company Vegang App Ltd.

I believe Hector is the sole shareholder of Hebemo, which seems to have a lot of money in the bank £920k of which a big chunk (around £500k went in as shown in the June 2018 accounts, I also note that the intangible fixed assets seem to be 'image rights', and that there seems to be a nice car involved (see Finance Lease Obligations).

This seems to be his fellow Director's Twitter account -

You'd think buying a stake in a football club would be extremely difficult. But when you bring two entities together with a strong shared mission & vision the negotiations become very smooth

Big thank you to @HenryStaelens & @DaleVince for the open minded approach to the project https://t.co/yk6iz3dYwS

— Ehsen Shah (@EhsenTweets) September 8, 2020

Company House link to this company -
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08732089

I can't seem to track down a website or anything for Hebemo but it states it's business is "other sports activities' so I'm guessing dealing with 'image rights' and stuff like that?

And nope I can't find anything about planting trees in the Amazon but his mate's company is tweeting about it!

Why Arsenal’s @HectorBellerin Is Planting 58,617 Trees In The Amazon: via @forbes https://t.co/fkaMCIPbUh

— B-Engaged (@BEngagedUK) September 1, 2020

So, you've beaten me, I don't know where the money has come from (Hector seems to be owed around £365k though - Directors Transactions), I don't know what the company does and I can't seem to find that it's spent anything on trees either in the Amazon or even at a Forest near Green Rovers.

I did notice Evergreen Eco-Capital, Sluffy, but how is it that we can find this stuff when the Beeb and the rest of the media can't? Could it possibly be that the media are only interested in half-truths that suit their political agendas and that suckers will fall for? 

I genuinely appreciate the need to treat the environment with more care than World leaders have done so far, but hypocrisy is something else.

I think you'll find that Hebemo is a device to avoid personal income tax on a substantial part of Bellerin's 'earnings' in a not dissimilar way to how Vince avoids income tax on the million quid a year he draws from Ecotricity. 

The Ecotricity tax arrangements, though, are more bespoke, been in operation for much longer and will have saved Vince quite a lot more than Hebemo has saved Bellerin to date.

'When you bring two entities together with a strong shared mission', you'd better find somebody else to help fund the NHS and pay for all the other public services we all rely on.