What really bugs me about German TV licensing inspectors is that they work on a bounty basis. Is this the same in the UK?
This seems to attract… well… special elements of society and doesn’t necessarily make them more honest about their actual privileges.
In Greece, the fee for the two government channels comes with the electricity bill. You might not have a TV, but you still have to pay that fee. At least, its much cheaper (about 50 euros per year maybe) and these channels have a strong and crisp signal all over Greece (most private channels don’t broadcast at remote places)
As for the licensing in UK, I find it very silly. Since their EM radiation is entering my house, I can do whatever I like with it. Its like turning the stereo volume way up and charging your neighbour for listening to your music.
And by the way, I don’t have a television or VCR in the house, I simply want to give them a hard time. 
I am getting lots of letters for the Council Tax too, and I haven’t replied to any of them (They have some very complicated forms asking for every conceivable personal information). When they start shouting at me I will hand them my student exeption letter.
The first you’ll hear of a ‘hard time’ over council tax is a court date. And at that point, it’s costing a lot of all of our money. Just send in the letters now - by not paying and not giving evidence of exemption, you’re giving them good reason to hassle you.
Re the TV licence…people tend to overlook the radio aspect of it - the licence fee manages to fund 5 national stations, and a comprehensive network of local ones. I doubt that the other countries mentioned can match that (although I’m always happy to be corrected 
)