That’s it, yes, you. Thicky. Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision*, said that members of the public (that’s you again, keep up you idiot) won’t understand why the salaries of our highest paid “stars” are so high. The issue is too complex for you to comprehend or usefully contribute to the debate about the pay of entertainers.

Speaking as part of a panel on presenters’ fees at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Mrs Bennett said that BBC staff deserved to be treated differently from workers in other areas of the public sector.

She said: “The BBC is in a market; in the broader sense it’s part of the creative industries. It performs a fundamentally different role than that performed by, for example, policemen or teachers. It is a category error to suggest that the public would actually be able to contribute to working out what we do about it. It’s like me talking about Tom Cruise’s movie deals. I’m not of that sector.”


Ed Vaizey, the Shadow Culture Secretary, said that if a politician made similar comments there would be outrage. “A politician caught on camera saying the public don’t understand why we need to be paid £120,000 gets a front page and outrage. What Jana is saying is that the public don’t have the right to know talent and executives’ pay at the BBC because they wouldn’t understand why they’re paid that money,” he said. “ I think you’d find the public is far more sophisticated than your remarks suggest.”

The Tories have stated that they would force the corporation to publish the pay of their top stars, because they are paid out of the public purse. Again, that’s us, thickies. Well, actually it’s you thickies as TheEye doesn’t pay the telly tax. So next time you see Jonathan Ross on tv, just remember that he’s on about £6m a year and you are paying for it.

Doubles all round!

*Their sunglasses and contact lenses department.