The National Theatre underestimates its patrons

It was a story that Rishi Sunak was not saying what he would decide about the future of HS2. But was it the story? The BBC thought so. On Tuesday, Today’s reporting of the Conservative party conference consisted chiefly of Nick Robinson and Chris Mason gleefully commenting on how the Prime Minister was avoiding their HS2 questions. The explanation, which they chose not to recognise, was that he would have been idiotic to pre-empt his own conference speech on Wednesday. There he did announce his big HS2 change. The only other thing that interested Today, especially Robinson, who specialises in this theme, was that ‘the Tory right’ were being supported at the conference by GB News, partly in the form of its presenter Nigel Farage. Both these points are matters of legitimate interest, but where they sit in the BBC’s public service remit of neutrally conveying what was said at the conference is less clear. In the case of the GB News angle, the BBC ought to declare its own potential interest here, which is to destroy a rival. If GB News is what Robinson calls ‘a Tory-backing news outlet’, then it would be equally fair to call the BBC an ‘anti-Tory news outlet’. As so often, the BBC was asserting its media dominance more than reporting news.

Sitting in the National Theatre foyer this week, I studied an enormous notice staring at me, entitled ‘Everyone is welcome’. I reproduce it in full, because its length (more than half that of the Ten Commandments) is part of its oddity:

We are all part of making the National Theatre a welcome, inspiring place where everyone can feel they belong, whatever the purpose of their visit. Discriminatory and intimidating behaviours have no place here. If you experience any, we’ll take action. Speak to any member of staff who can refer you to a manager.