DEAR Tim Davie, As the 17th Director General of the BBC, I am sure you will know the first was John Reith, a Scot from Stonehaven.

Of equal significance, perhaps even more so, was another Scot, John Logie Baird (1888-1946), a Scottish inventor, innovator and electrical engineer, who demonstrated the first working TV back in 1926 and who was in fact born and educated just a couple of kilometers from the address at the bottom of this letter. He later completed his qualifications at Glasgow Tech – now Strathclyde University Scotland, like countries all over the world, is experiencing the effects of coronavirus.

A rising percentage of people, often elderly and unskilled in digital technology who live not only in Scotland, find difficulty sourcing advice and information which they can readily access and comprehend regarding the spread and means to control this virulent and increasingly deadly disease.

As growing TV viewing figures demonstrate, many folk have come to be grateful to Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon for her regular, reliable, informative and non-politicised daily presentations of advice.

Amongst the “Mission Statements” in John Reith’s original Royal Charter, were the words: “The BBC has a public interest to serve all audiences with high quality, impartial output which Informs, Educates, and Entertains.”

How, I wonder, would he react to knowing the 17th BBC Director General had been influenced to decide that a source of valued, up-to-date health information was to be limited to a small percentage of viewers – in particular, when many media and print journalists actively follow the daily briefing and wait their turn to ask relevant questions?

I cite representatives from: BBC and STV; the Telegraph; the Mail; The Times; the Express; The Guardian; The Sun; The Scotsman; The Herald; The National and numerous local newspapers. Some indeed include references to Matt Hancock’s decisions.

As well as “informing” and “educating”, the third of Lord Reith’s objectives was to “entertain”. One consequence of being as old as I am is that I have ample opportunity and time to follow broadcasting in considerable detail. Alongside being irritated, I find myself also “entertained”, verging on laughing out loud, at the blatant, predictable, biased responses made by the greater proportion of BBC interviewers.

Invariably, should an interviewee include anything favourable about Scotland, or make reference to the fact that the same, democratically elected, SNP Government has been in majority control at Holyrood for 10 consecutive years, their BBC interviewer will interrupt saying “I shall have to stop you there – we have run out of time”. Who is giving the instruction to do this?

Please, Tim Davie, check it out for yourself!

It grieves me to say the personality traits of jealousy and envy, so often the constituents of a TV soap opera script, have recently been attributed to a Director General’s decision to curtail broadcast of Scotland’s daily Covid briefing.

Yet another example of risible BBC “largesse” to Scotland is the pathetic production that is offered as the BBC Scotland channel. I like Rebecca Curran and Martin Geissler, but who, if they were interested in viewing figures, would contrive to present a news programme at 9pm?

Lest you think I am myself exhibiting bias, may I refer to two excellent and thoroughly enjoyed recent nationwide broadcasts from BBC London – educational, informative and entertaining in every aspect. You may not be surprised to hear they were Lucy Worsley’s History’s Biggest Fibs and an incredible, international and musically talented cast presenting the treat that was The Last Night of the Proms.

But permit me one last wee niggle. Due to my limited ability to operate modern TV gadgetry and choose what to watch when, I am obliged to follow the BBC’s published schedule – when the actual start times are now so often awry from that stated.

Margaret M
Little Rhu, by Helensburgh