[DanaC]

there are some areas here where the cameras have a woefully short lifespan :P


[eta] in some ways we are very nannied. In other respects we are very free. Sometimes we get the balance right, other times we very much don't. On the licence fee, I agree with it in principle. It allows us to have TV programmes that aren't purely tied to the market. A lot of very worthy stuff gets made that I am glad to have but which would never get made if it had to survive in the market at large. But...there aren't enough concessions. The age at which you get it exempted is far too high (should be 65 same age as retirment imo) and there are no concessions for low income families which I believe there should be. There's also a tendency to hike the licence fee up without, in my opinion, offering enough good reason for doing so. There's been a lot of money wasted on failed projects but that's the price of freedom to experiment I guess. More annoying is the amount of money wasted on poor quality television and radio output. The whole point of paying the licence fee is to gurantee quality output free from commercial concerns, so it's a bit of a kick in the teeth when they make a bunch of crap to try and pull in the 'younger viewers' especially when they get it so badly wrong :P