The turf: Auntie pulls up

As political editor of the BBC I once had to appear on the Today programme just after the 7 a.m. news to discuss the passing of an MP who had tragically died experimenting with auto-eroticism. Two minutes before we went on air I was still engaged in a conference call with BBC executives anxious as to whether I would mention the women’s stockings he was wearing or the orange in his mouth. I never had such interference when I was reporting on political skulduggery: what concerns BBC managers is ‘image’ and whether the Corporation might finish up in the newspapers.

Similar thinking has had much to do with the BBC’s pathetic surrendering of its coverage of major horse races such as the Grand National and Royal Ascot. BBC Sport executives, who know nothing about horseracing and care less, have been whittling down the Beeb’s coverage of the sport, which has an audience second only to football.