Hyslop’s tartan BBC would be a massive turn-off
SCOTTISH Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop and the SNP are determined to meddle in the affairs of the BBC in Scotland. This is because of the SNP’s continuing vindictiveness and grievance about their perception of the BBC’s referendum coverage – plus smoothing the way for their next referendum. But Miss Hyslop and the SNP-dominated Holyrood culture committee try to hide this by using unsubstantiated assertions to claim that Scots want BBC Scotland programming to better serve the distinctive needs of the country and reflect Scottish life. What utter rubbish. Why don’t they have a proper public consultation and actually listen to a wide cross-section of the public, rather than just hear their own voices and those of their supporters? Exactly what distinctive needs and aspects of Scottish life are being short-changed? We already have a broad spectrum of BBC Scotland programmes plus a dedicated BBC Alba channel for only 58,000 Gaelic speakers – and let’s not forget STV. With her track record of handing public money to a profitable rock festival without first bothering to read the background financial reports, it is perhaps not surprising that Miss Hyslop thinks all the TV licence fee money raised in Scotland should be spent here, presumably to help her pet projects and supporters. In such a scenario, Scottish viewers would no longer contribute to the costs of mainstream UK programmes, so these would only be available to viewers able to receive the corporation’s English programmes and the rest of us will be stuck with low-budget, second-rate parochial shows. Holyrood politicians will no doubt get Sky subscriptions, so they will still be able to watch East Enders, Strictly, The Voice, Poldark and all the big-budget dramas. Expecting a Nationalist minister to admit that pooling resources can bring financial benefits is just too much to hope for.
A.WYLIE,Largs,Ayrshire.