Way to channel best of Scotland

i’M delighted the BBC is giving Scotland a new channel, instead of just a Scottish Six that only 23 per cent of Scots had any enthusiasm for.

instead of one hour of news watched by a handful of activists and journalists’ mums, we are to get a £30million investment that will also benefit Scottish culture.

it offers a platform for the award-winning documentaries made here. Battle Mountain, David Street’s film about cycling icon Graeme Obree, had to be cut down to an hour to fit a slot for BBC2 recently, but could run at its intended length on the Scottish channel.

May Miles thomas’s film the Devil’s Plantation played to packed houses and rave reviews at the Glasgow Film Festival a while back, but has not been seen since – a Scottish channel would fix that. And maybe, just maybe, a Scottish channel could bring back limmy’s Show, a comedy which developed a cult following on its first outing.

Only John nicolson of the SnP is unhappy. Just before the announcement, he claimed to Radio 4 that ‘people in BBC Scotland have been walking around with their heads in their hands’, such was the despair at not being given a Scottish Six.

nonsense. in fact, there was a very strong feeling at BBC Scotland that the money could be better spent – and now it will be.

Yet Mr nicolson is dismayed that the BBC has promised more money for Scotland, will give viewers more choice and will showcase Scottish talent.

As one BBC journalist said to me this week, nicolson seems to be the kind of person who gets a car and wishes that it was a bus pass.