Tea wars at BBC

The cost-cutting measure comes a month after it was reported that Jonathan Ross has signed a three-year contract with the BBC worth £18m.  News of the cutback has not amused staff members.

In words that would have done Sir Humphrey himself proud, Jenny Baxter, controller of Production News, informed colleagues in an email that, "What constitutes a 'splash' of milk is subjective and this decision removes any potential for conflict at the till".

One employee, quoted in the Sunday Telegraph, said, "I think there is something fundamentally broken about an organisation that has an income of more than £3 billion a year and then spends valuable employee time wondering about this sort of issue".

The email advised that, "Workplace ... have reviewed the decision and due to the challenge of reducing the catering subsidy to enable more money to be put towards programme-making, they have had to price the products at a sustainable level".

A two-pint bottle of milk at some supermarkets costs just 50p.

Tea News Says:

You really couldn't make it up.  It just goes to show what a gulf there is between administrators and programme-makers at the national broadcasters.  It's way too far-fetched to have come from one of the sitcom storylines.

All About Tea is firmly of the view that regular cups of tea are essential to a productive working day.  We all work better with a good cuppa to hand.  It helps us think and keeps the creative juices flowing.  So the BBC needs good tea more than anyone.

So any move that discourages tea-drinking is essentially wrong-headed and we oppose it strongly.

But the real point of this story is that the BBC ends up looking mean-spirited and penny-pinching.  And a bit ridiculous, given the huge salaries paid to some of its talent.

So we call upon BBC Workplace (a rather Soviet-sounding department, we think) to pull itself together and take a less drastic approach.

Free tea for the people.  With milk for me please.