If you understand that acronym you’re probably under 40. Then again you might not be cos I’m not, as yesterday’s post proved when it brought me a letter inviting me to apply for my pension. I’ve already sussed out how much I’m going to get so in one sense the letter was welcome, though in another, of course… Anyway, AITA stands for the succinct and elegant question, Am I The Asshole? (being an internet thing, we obviously have to use the American spelling.) You can find a whole series of AITAs on the internet and let me tell you, it’s a real self-righteous fest; almost as good as watching Crash Detectives where trained police officers try to figure out what happened in an RTA (there’s another acronym for you: AITA in the RTA?) Replies begin with either YTA (you’re the asshole) or NTA followed by an explanation; from the ones I’ve seen there’s usually a surprising amount of unanimity.
Which brings us to Gary Lineker. As you no doubt know by now, Lineker has found himself in hot water (unlike the poor sods trying to cross the channel who are in very cold water indeed) about remarks he made following Suella Braverman’s announcement of the latest plan to deter small boats. He tweeted that the plan was ‘beyond awful’ and later defended the comment by saying that there was ‘no huge influx’ and that the policy was ‘immeasurably cruel.’ He went on to compare it to those used by Nazi Germany in the ’30’s. The BBC had said it will be speaking to him about impartiality but as he’s freelance and particularly as he has garnered a lot of support (including from Piers Morgan, improbably) he’s unlikely to be dropped from the schedules. I was quite shocked to learn, however, that he earns more than 1.3 million quid for that gig. That’s a heck of a lot of money – but beside the point here.
So is Gary Lineker TA? I would say absolutely NTA and maybe those who bang on about free speech can take note.
What’s your view? Vote below with HTA or NTA but be warned; racist comments will be deleted and the author blocked. Not that any of my lovely followers would be so mean… just saying.
Kirk out
I’m trying some new colours. You like? Of course you have to change the text one block at a time, which is annoying – but then everything about blocks is annoying. I suspect there are a lot of bullshit jobs in WordPress which involve annoying the users in a variety of interesting ways.
Sarada Gray 
NTA, definitely. I cannot help but think that the BBC is rather too heavily policing the people they pay. I’m glad he’s freelance though, as that means less pressure, and at least that seven-figure income means he needn’t be afraid to speak out. If they don’t like it, he can freely go somewhere else. Also, he’s got an image of being a really nice bloke.
True
Definitely NTA for Lineker: for all the BBC’s profession of impartiality, from my admittedly left-wing viewpoint, it always seems to feel the need to be the government’s mouthpiece, from which the obvious conclusion can be drawn.
The block colour is not unattractive, if that’s not damning with faint praise? It’s a safe choice which, in this case, is a good thing: trying to read contrasting text on a bright background would not be pleasant, IMHO [another initialisation for you]. I agree about WordPress’s apparent need for constant change: it’s a pain in the posterior!
Cheers, Jon.
Lineker doesn’t work for the BBC, strictly speaking. They use him on a self-employed basis, and he negotiated his own contract. If they were stupid enough to pay him £1.3 million a year, that’s their lookout. (And my licence fee) I have no interest in football, (or American acronyms) but if he wants to risk his lucrative job waffling on about football to make a serious point about our Neo-Fascist government, then good luck to him.
Fiona Bruce works for the BBC, and shows incredible, almost unbelievable right-wing bias every week on Question Time. She is married to a man whose agency has a multi-million pound contract to promote the Conservative Party. (I no longer watch QT)
Laura Kuenssberg works for them too, and also shows blatant pro-government bias in her interviews and reports. (I no longer watch her)
Nick Robinson is a senior BBC political journalist who was once President of The Conservative Party Youth Associaton, and head of The Conservative Party Association during his time at Oxford University. His Tory bias shows every day.
(I don’t watch or listen to him either)
But they are all okay with the BBC, whose chairman is a good mate of Boris Johnson.
Keep talking, Gary. (I don’t buy Walker’s Crisps)
Best wishes, Pete.