In defence of the BBC

I sometimes wonder if I’m the last person left in Britain who loves the BBC and thinks it represents brilliant value for money. Yes, there is much with which to be infuriated – like most Leavers, for example, I find watching Gary Lineker present Match of the Day about as enjoyable as I imagine Remainers would watching Nigel Farage do the same job. And yes, the Today programme segment earlier this week on the latest developments in telephone hold music was idiotic. But does the BBC really deserve, once again, to be threatened with licence fee reform?

The argument against the BBC licence fee is that it is effectively a tax. It isn’t – you can opt-out – but even if it were it would be a good thing.

Our taxes are rightly spent on services many of which as individuals we will never use. But the BBC is a service almost all of us use, every day, and which genuinely is the envy of the world.