Back in April Guido revealed that the BBC’s beleaguered “fact-checking” service Verify employed a whopping 63 people with combined salary of £3.2 million. As Guido calculated in the summer its staff were therefore being paid approximately £13,675 per article produced. Nice for some…
It can now be revealed that after months of debunked reporting and observed decreases in article production BBC Verify has actually managed to increase its staff costs by £100,000. Despite the fact that two members of staff have been dropped…
A Guido FOI has established that 61 people with costs of £3.3 million now form the Verify team. Meanwhile, the BBC stoutly refuses to reveal any details of expense costs claimed by its Verify employees, like gratuitous trips to the USA, on the grounds that it has dispensation to protect information relating to “art, journalism or literature.” In many ways Verify does look like some kind of bizarre art project…
In Henry Mance’s piece today for the FT, lunching with Nigel Farage:
“Splendido!” Farage says, when the drinks arrive; I suppose it’s a step to European reconciliation. We clink glasses, and he lights the first of two back-to-back Benson & Hedges. A few minutes later, we’re back downstairs. “Are you drinking? Good.” He orders a glass of Sauvignon blanc for each of us — not a bottle, “because it’s Lent” — followed by a bottle of claret, to have with our meal. They say Farage drinks less than he used to. They say a lot of things.”