The revelations about historic allegations of bullying behind the scenes at the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing have shocked millions of people who saw a programme where the worst thing that happened to competitors was harsh criticism from the judge Craig Revel-Horwood. The ultimate family TV show where everyone smiled and they all lived happily ever after. That illusion has been firmly shattered as the BBC staggers from one crisis to another, its weak and directionless leadership full of Conservative party place men, allowing the corporation to hang on the vine. Nothing surprises me these days about workplace bullying, having experienced it first hand when I worked for the British Red Cross.
Bullying essentially exposes poor management. That was certainly the case at the British Red Cross when a series of inadequates were given roles they were incapable of filling. When I was there, they took out their incompetence on me, eventually banishing me from the offices in Warmley in Bristol and sending me to a broom cupboard in Easton in a deliberate attempt to get rid of me. Those managers were the very worst of us and it turned out that the people at the top of the organisation simply ignored any complaints, like mine, presumably to protect their £100,000+ salaries (the CEO ‘earned’ closer to £200,000, plus a lucrative pension at the end of it). Don’t let some victim of bullying derail the British Red Cross given who it operates for: the well-paid managers and their cronies.
I cannot know for sure but as an outsider looking in, it is obvious to me that the BBC is currently organised on a similar basis. At the top are a legion of Tory party appointments appointed not for their ability but their politics. A fish rots from the head, so an out of touch clueless management regime filters down to lower levels. Incompetence breeds negligence breeds bullying and abuse. Hello, BBC. Meet the British Red Cross.
I do not doubt a single case of bullying that has been exposed by the media, even those many sections of the media whose sole intention is to get rid of the BBC. I have seen comments from those who have suggested that ‘certain people’ – it’s always certain people – are getting on some kind of bandwagon to attack the Beeb. They’ve seen someone else do it, so they’ll do it too. And maybe they can make a bob or two along the way? In the absence of evidence, I call bullshit. People are coming forward now because they have been encouraged to come forward by the brave actions of others.
If I had gone public with my stories of bullying at the British Red Cross, who knows if others wouldn’t have followed my example? I didn’t because at the time I was broken, having been screamed at my an area manager and told by the British Red Cross Occupational Health Officer that I was “emotionally weak”. It was of course a complete coincidence that on two occasions at that time long nails were driven into the tyres of my car while it was on the drive, necessitating expensive replacement tyres and labour costs. I am pretty sure these attacks were carried out on behalf of a lone actor – I have a good idea of who – but it speaks volumes about an organisation that places itself above what we regard as acceptable norms.
Happily, the BBC has been forced to bow before the pressure of evidence and is slowly putting itself back in order. Not before time. There’s no place for bullies who are always social inadequates, living in a world of delusion, regarding bullying and abuse as firm management.
I am not convinced the British Red Cross has changed, though. I write to them every single year on the anniversary of when I left them and request a full apology. They do not even bother to reply. They have even banned me from replying to their page on X. This tells me an awful lot about what is a multinational corporation of a charity, with a vast legion of highly paid managers, at least a dozen of whom in the UK earn in excess of £100,000. Remember that when you respond to their next appeal and give your money that goes to help people and not line the pockets of bullies and those who casually enable it.
