I know it sounds a bit pathetic on my part, given I’m supposed to be commenting on such things, but I hadn’t heard of the bbc’s change of governance until late last night. Of course, I knew it’s charter renewal was coming up, and I was a bit worried about it, but I didn’t know when it was or what would happen. Now that it has, I’m not sure what to make of it: last night, the beeb were putting a brave face on, saying it could be much worse and that the Tories had watered down their ambitions for it’s complete (figurative) destruction. On the other hand, the fact is they are going to impose a external regulator and government appointed DG upon it. While you could say that increasing links with he government makes the bbc more democratic and accountable, the only other places with such a relationship between government and broadcaster are north Korea and China.

The fact is, the tories hate the bbc, which they see as too left wing. They hate anything funded by the state. Like four-year-olds who haven’t learned to share, tories think they should only fund themselves and don’t see the point of everyone contributing to a general pot so other people might benefit. Hence the moron currently calling himself culture secretary (what a joke – the fat p’tahk wouldn’t know culture if it hit him on his arse) has likened the licence fee to the poll tax. Had he had his way, the license fee would have been scrapped and the beeb gutted. As it is, we’re now going to have to pay for Iplayer, which I’m not happy about.

While part of me says it could be worse, and that the bbc basically survived, another part of me is angry that these nonces in government think they have a right to try to remake the bbc in their own image. Like the nhs, the bbc is one of the best parts of the uk. On a personal level, now that I come to think about it, I owe a lot to the beeb: where else did I first encounter Star Trek but bbc2? Who showed Michael Palin or David Attenborough documentaries? Where did Monty Python begin? Who produced Happy and Glorious? I owe so much to the bbc; we all do. That the tories think they can push it around and do as they please with such a valuable thing is yet another reason why I loathe them. It belongs to us all, something we grew up with to be cherished; yet CaMoron and co think it is theirs to remake, dictate to and meddle with. Their arrogance is astounding.