BBC weakness

SIR – You report (March 15) that Ian Wright, the BBC football pundit, said that “heads have got to roll” at the top of the BBC over its handling of the Gary Lineker affair. It is noticeable that the language used is more like that of an employee with a grievance than a person providing a service.

If Mr Lineker’s supporters no longer wish to work at the BBC, they should terminate their contracts, or confidentially re-negotiate them by reconciling differences. No business other than the BBC would continue to deal with a supplier who was so openly critical of it. It should terminate the contract if the supplier won’t. Mr Lineker and his colleagues are either employees with rights or contractors with obligations. They can’t have their (substantial) cake and eat it.

Bill Dixon

Bowdon, Cheshire

SIR – As a former undergraduate choral scholar who sang under the direction of Quintin Beer (Comment, March 10), I fully support his principled and passionate defence of the BBC Singers.

The choir is an inspiration to singers and conductors across the country. As Gary Lineker has been kept on by the BBC, at a cost of £1.3 million a year, I urge Tim Davie, the BBC’S directorgeneral, to rethink the appalling decision to axe this excellent choir. Joseph Brierly London W1

SIR – Pierre Boulez worked with the BBC Singers when he was chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and described it as the best choir in the world. It’s even better now, performing choral music from the 16th century to the present. To axe it would be sheer vandalism.

Hugh Keyte

London SE1