. An absolute must-read as Gerard Baker of the Financial Times, writing in the Weekly Standard, surveys the state of the BBC:
‘The sheer scale of the BBC means that “the truth as seen by the BBC” is what gets believed. Aunty is simply too big and too powerful for the modern media era. The BBC is, in fact, a curious vestige of pre-Margaret Thatcher Britain: a massive public monopoly, a Soviet-like bureaucracy accountable to no one. If you own a TV, your almost $200 a year goes into the BBC’s coffers–irrespective of whether you watch it–and, yes, the BBC will prosecute you if you fail to pay up.’
Midweek 28th January 2026
It’s not without precedent, as it would be a modern analog to the Janissaries of the Ottoman empire. One can…