In my time—which is a long time ago—the BBC was a big name to look up to. They had it all: proper reporting, proper English, proper manners. Propriety sometimes taken to boring limits.

Then modernity struck.

The ratings game infected the Beeb too. Standards were lowered all in the mad pursuit of more viewers and listeners. Now what with Sir Jimmy Savile stories coming out and outlandish cover-ups it seems not all was as proper as they led us to believe.

After Jimmy Savile’s cover-up of all the horror he perpetrated, another abuse story cropped up. A Tory grandee and a party treasurer under Baroness Thatcher, Lord McAlpine, was accused of being part of a paedophile ring in a damning programme aired on the BBC, which didn’t actually name him but made it clear who it was. It now turns out the story was a load of pure hogwash and the Lord was wrongly shamed.

As we all know, the British are upright and do not accept such vile stuff without a few immediate resignations. The Director-General of the BBC resigned and this was followed by the resignation of the BBC Head of news and her deputy. How more gentlemanly and lady-like can that be? The DG had only been at the helm of the BBC for 54 days. Well, who would mind messing about with a programme indicting some silly rich Lord and then resigning when you get just under half a million pounds in severance pay?

Do please sack me or do anything you like with me if it drives you to make out a cheque for just under half a million pounds, besides nearly a million for my pension pot. Who ever said the islanders of Malta are potty? 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.