I am bored by the whinging females at the BBC going on about 'gender inbalance' in their salary levels compared to their male colleagues. Get a Life or -perhaps more pertinently -Get a Better Agent.
Whenever I have done any TV work the first thing I say when I am contacted is - 'That's very interesting - do you mind talking to my agent?" Why? Because I haven't a clue about what the 'going rate' is for a job but my agent has. Also - though I have many qualities I also have many weaknesses and one of them is - I am a lousy negotiator for myself.
So I leave the sordid subject of monetary remuneration to my agent and naturally she takes- and fully deserves - her fee. But I always feel that actually she cost me nothing as I am quite convinced that the extra payment she extracts more than covers her cost.
On the same issue though I am also a license fee payers as is everyone else in this country. Frankly that means I want the BBC to pay as little as possible for the 'talent' as us TV performers are called. If they can get away with paying someone less than someone else doing an equivalent job - well good for them. Personally though I am boggled by what some of the 'Talent' are pulling in. Is that old wind bag John Humphries really worth £600,000 + a year - I think not as for Jonathan Ross -pass the sick bag