Dim Bulbs at the BBC
Well, it should come as no surprise that the BBC nowadays has its fair share (maybe more than its fair share) of dim bulbs.
But this time, the "Beeb" has turned itself into a farce and a joke. How many people does it take to change a light bulb at the BBC? More than you know, and all bound up in miles of red tape while using piles of taxpayers' money, of course!
The sorry saga of a broken light has illuminated the scale of "bureaucratic waste" at the BBC and cost licence fee payers thousands of pounds. For more than a month the iconic sign at BBC Television Centre on Wood Lane, west London, has been out of action. But what should have been a simple job, to repair a light illuminating the second "i", has descended into farce. For where once it would have been a job for a couple of in-house technicians with a few hours to spare, the project has sunk into confusion involving outside contractors and spiralling costs. So far two outside companies have been hired to fix the problem. One has been tasked with erecting a series of hydraulic platforms to reach the sign, 50 feet up in the air. The other is evaluating the damage. It is estimated that it costs the corporation £1,100 each time this procedure is carried out. Only once a full assessment is made will the BBC's own staff decide what course of action to take before handing the repair work to one of the "outsourcing" contractors. The expense has infuriated staff, who in last week's issue of the in-house magazine Ariel complained that in the past the problem would have been solved by a couple of workmen in a cradle. Last year it emerged that the BBC had been charged £57 to change a light bulb by a property management company. |
£57 to replace a stupid light bulb? £57, by today's exchange rate, is more than $100 US!
Anyway, this entire pitiful story did make me laugh. One more instance of common sense going right out the window.