At the weekend, I put up a tweet suggesting that supporters of the BBC make mutually exclusive claims when they … Continue reading “The case for the BBC licence fee is based on bad arguments”

On Question Time last week, the issue of the restriction of television licences to over-75s was raised. Nobody spoke in … Continue reading “Scrap the free TV licence – and scrap the TV licence”

To the non-economist, all goods and services are the same in terms of their basic nature, however much they vary … Continue reading “Broadcasting is a club good, not a public good. BBC channels should become subscription channels”

BBC director-general Lord Hall must have thought all his Christmases had come at once. For years, the corporation has been … Continue reading “The licence fee is obsolete – but a new BBC poll tax would be just as bad”

Don’t you miss Jeremy Paxman already? On Newsnight he would ask persistently the question that politicians were trying to obfuscate … Continue reading “‘Does good broadcasting require compulsion?’ The question the BBC won’t address”