MPs ignore cultural significance of BBC

BBC Broadcasting House, London. 'The BBC is bounded by the rationality of being a public-sector organisation and needs to think beyond the licence fee and the vendetta of MPs fuelled by a dotty ideology from the School of Murdoch,' writes Chris Hodgkins. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

The BBC is bounded by the rationality of being a public sector organisation (Hundreds of jobs to go at a leaner and simpler BBC, 1 July) and needs to think beyond the licence fee and the vendetta of MPs fuelled by a dotty ideology from the School of Murdoch. The BBC could devolve Radios 1, 2 and 6 Music to a commercial arm of the BBC – BBC Worldwide for example – so that they could be supported by advertising. Retain Radio 4 and reconfigure Radio 3 into a digital platform for musics such as jazz, folk, world, classical and opera. It is crucial that the BBC orchestras and live music output are retained and enhanced; these cultural assets at the BBC are something that MPs putting the boot in always fail to recognise.
Chris Hodgkins
London