Here’s the news: we need money

THE oddest point mad e about the Scotti s h Si x , BBC Scotland’s potential hour-long news show at 6pm, is the idea that this represents an ‘ opportunity’. It really isn’t. This is a transparent and feeble attempt to throw a grudging bone t o BBC Scotland, their viewers and hard-pressed journalists.

BBC Scotland staff are amazingly dedicated, despite the fact that most of them work long shifts for rubbish money.

While Alan Yentob runs up expenses of £85,000 including first-class hotels, I know BBC journalists who sleep on pals’ floors because their programme budget can’t stretch to a B&B.

Austerity is biting hard now, with the corporation looking to save up to £700million. So why should we be thrilled by a few million quid chucked at a time slot watched by half a million Scots, at best?

A Scottish Six is not the best use of a cash spend in Scotland. Worse, it has no guarantees.

Here’s how the BBC works: they create a show, throw money at it then, once it is established, they take a lot of that money away.

BBC Scotland 2016 is a case in point; remember all those expensive i nvestigative reports when that half-hour was launched? Gone now, sadly.

BBC Scotland bosses should be pushing for something with a real long-term benefit, that is far more difficult for London to untangle. Ideally, Pacific Quay should be designated and invested as a specialist centre, like Salford Quays or Cardiff.

In fact, it’s strange Scotland doesn’t already hold that sort of status. It would transform us.