The BBC’s new direction

I am becoming terribly worried about the people of Sunderland with regard to how they will cope in this coming winter. The greatly increased fuel bills will affect all parts of the country, of course – but none more so than the Mackems who, I suspect, will largely die as a consequence. Their particular problem was highlighted by the local Labour MP, Bridget Phillipson, on BBC2’s Politics Live hosted by the excellent Jo Coburn. Ms Phillipson said people in her constituency opened their doors to her wearing their coats and possibly mufflers, because they were trying to reduce their energy bills. The temperature up here has not dropped below about 21°C for the past two months, but these Mackems are apparently already close to hypothermia. So how will they cope when December descends?

I live about 30 miles away and have been dressed in nothing more than a T-shirt since June and our central heating went off at the end of March. Perhaps the people of Houghton and Sunderland South are actually cold-blooded creatures and would be better served by basking on rocks during the daylight hours, rather than hiding inside their dark, freezing homes. Or maybe the taxpayer should provide them with a giant vivarium. An alternative explanation is that as soon as these people see Phillipson approaching they quickly throw a coat on in an attempt to convince her that they are just on their way out to meet a friend, or go to the betting shop, and do not have time to engage with her myopic and supercilious analyses of political issues.

Politics Live is one of the current affairs programmes that the BBC does well: it is intelligent, even-handed and free from the Chicken Little hysteria which affects many political discussion shows.