Designed to fail?

Like Gordon Shepherd, I enjoy the breadth of BBC output (Letters, 14 February) although Scotland is treated badly compared to the amounts spent in Wales and Northern Ireland and a new Scottish channel is essential to provide more Scottish music, drama and documentaries.

This should be on the primary channel, BBC1, and take the best programmes from London, while those who want only London-orientated output can find this on other digital channels.

The BBC missed a huge opportunity when it bowed to pressure from Tony Blair to oppose a Scottish Six news or a Scottish Ten bulletin along the lines of Radio Scotland news, rather than having our main news filtered from a London perspective. Having the new Scottish channel’s main news at 9pm against peak popular programmes does not solve this democratic deficit and gives credence to those who say the new channel is designed to fail.

The furore over last week’s Question Time was heightened following revelations that a former Ukip candidate, who has appeared several times before, was specifically invited to join the programme and given a front row seat, where he proceeded to rant for well over a minute about the SNP. Fiona Hyslop’s response was subsequently edited back to a mere nine seconds by the BBC producers before going

out on air.this does nothing to restore confidence in the BBC’S political output.

MARY THOMAS Watson Crescent, Edinburgh