When the music stops

The BBC Singers, the broadcaster’s professional choir founded in 1924, will not live to celebrate its centenary next year. Announcing the move, Charlotte Moore, the BBC’S chief content officer, proclaimed a new strategy that will be “bold, ambitious and good for ... audiences who love classical music”. The 20 singers who will be made redundant – and members of the public who have enjoyed the choir perform – may view things differently. The licence fee is in part justified on the grounds that it allows the BBC to fund ventures which a purely commercial enterprise would not. Choral music is surely a prime example of this, while, say, Radio 1 is not. The corporation undoubtedly does need to trim its budget, but there must be plenty of its endeavours that are more worthy of the axe.