The BBC is the envy of the world. Why are we letting its competitors, and the politicians they have frightened or bought, tell us that we can't keep it as it is?Although I like David M, his saying so is not really that big a deal. Perhaps he is being paranoid. But no - what is a big deal (in my opinion) is the tenor of the responses. There are a lot of conservatives saying 'yes, it's about time we got rid of the BBC', 'why should we have to pay a license fee', 'Unfair on Sky TV' etc. I can quote a few to give you an idea, but it's not really the individual comments I'm struck by, its the large number expressing a consistent view:
No doubt there will be a stream of self righteous leftists coming to the defense of the BBC whose lack of self awareness always amuses me as it is only leftists who defend the BBC.
You had a good run but the times and technology has moved on
When the BBC was there to raise broadcasting standards it had a point. Now it does more of the same as the commercial stations it is no longer necessary.
Your smug, left-wing sanctimony would be more palatable if your preaching came with a little box that said exactly how much taxpayer cash is larding your bank account.
One only has to look at the USA to see how the free market provides everything (sublime and ridiculous) that the people demand. I say scrap the BBC, sell off its assets.
I don't mean to imply that this is the general tone of comments, which are qualified pro-BBC. What I mean is there are no disagreements from the right saying 'You lefties are being paranoid, we will protect the BBC'. There are no disagreements, as far as I can see, with the claim that they want to get rid of it, only about whether this is a bad thing.
So either there is some sort of organised commenting programme to get this message out, or there is such a consensus that the time has come to dismantle the BBC that they are all doing this spontaneously. Either prospect is worrying.