Biased and out of touch

Madam, – Most independence supporters believe the BBC is biased in favour of the Union.

Given that support for independence probably runs not far short of 50% in Scotland, this is a problem for the BBC, particularly given they will shortly be launching their new Scottish TV channel.

Personally, I have never been too upset about the perceived bias: the clue is in the name, the British Broadcasting Corporation, it is based in London, with an underfunded branch office in Glasgow, and, sadly, I have low expectations.

But we have the right to expect better than the recent Question Time programme filmed in Motherwell, which did not reflect in any way the state of Scotland today.

The panel was made up of three unionists, Michael Forsyth, formerly Mrs Thatcher’s man in Scotland, the local Labour MP, a journalist from the Times who identified himself as a unionist, a bright and articulate young lady who was a bit out of her depth on such a politicised stage, and Scottish Government minister Fiona Hyslop, who conducted herself well, but seemed a bit shell-shocked at the tirades coming at her, which Fiona Bruce, in the chair, did nothing to moderate.

Motherwell voted for independence in the Scottish referendum, and remain in the Brexit referendum, yet the audience was heavily weighted in favour of the Union and Brexit.

A gentleman sitting in the front row, who spoke strongly against independence, has been identified as a former Ukip candidate, who has been selected to speak on QT at least four times in the last few years.

There have been similar complaints about the BBC for years, with no obvious effort to recognise the changed political reality in Scotland.

I hope the new channel will have more content produced in Scotland, and more balance, because, if it doesn’t, it is likely to fail.

Les Mackay. 5 Carmichael Gardens, Dundee .