Corporation to announce plans to divert more than the entire annual budget of BBC Two into higher quality programmes.

Just been watching one of our 'elite' on TV, squirming and refusing to answer any question about whether dicussions with third parties over Russian donations to the Tory party were had. A simple "no" would have closed the questioning down, but Osborne knew that it would come back to bite him in the arse if he said that, so instead he evaded. Our political elite -- both Labour and Tory alike -- rea...

Ivan Lewis MP, Labour's Shadow Culture Secretary, responding to the publication of the BBC Delivering Quality First proposals, said:

As BNP leader Nick Griffin prepares to appear on BBC Question Time this evening I thought it would be appropriate to explore the phenomenal rise of fascism in Britain today. And what better place to start than with the revelation that the Tory Party are to ban men from being candidates for election in certain constituencies. This was an arbitrary decision taken by a small elite of the Tory Party w...

The usual justification for our being coerced into paying the illiberal licence fee is the BBC's "quality broadcasting". Perhaps, like me, you have watched BBC output in recent years and scoffed at that assertion. Nevertheless, let us agree that the...

The Today programme this morning came to grips with the latest attempt by somebody to talk sense about the future of the Corporation and its licence fee. A pamphlet, "To inform, educate and entertain" published by the Centre for Policy Studies makes the eminently rational case for the BBC to contract and become better: to concentrate on the sort of quality progra...

First - ITV wiped the floor with the BBC in the quality of its election night coverage. A great mix of news, statistics, humour and drama. What has particularly stuck in my mind was a very short, but absolutely on the button, description of what the Virginia result could mean - the home of American

Andrew Neil talks about the British 'political elite' ahead of his BBC 2 documentary Posh and Posher.

Here's a little clip from a debate in the European Parliament yesterday where Nick Griffin, amongst other things, says climate change is "An elite scam designed to tax and control us." I wonder if BBC Question TIme will pick up on that this week?

The BBC National Short Story Award 2009, the largest award for a single short story in the world, has been launched. The prize is £15,000 for the winning story, £3,000 for the runner-up and £500 for the three other shortlisted stories. This year's panel of judges are: singer-songwriter Will Young,...