Lord Hacking (Lab)

My Lords, earlier in this debate, the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, described the BBC as a “unique organisation”. Later, the noble Lord, Lord Hall of Birkenhead, described the BBC as a “national institution”. I agree wholly with both noble Lords. I speak only of the radio, but this does go back a long way. Like the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, I started listening to the BBC radio with the Home Service, the Light Programme and the Third Programme, but we need to focus upon what the BBC is now delivering to us. I refer to two of its prime programmes, “Mastermind” and “From Our Own Correspondent”. “Mastermind” is a fascinating programme in which the participants display encyclopaedic knowledge. Very occasionally, I have known the answer to a question, but that is very rare. “From Our Own Correspondent”, compered so ably by Kate Adie, calls on us to listen to a correspondent talking about the floods in Bangladesh, another correspondent talking about drought in Sudan, and perhaps a correspondent describing the way of life in some distant part of the world. Then there are the regional programmes. I cite “Gardeners’ Question Time” and “Any Questions?”, which was chaired for many years by Jonathan Dimbleby—I think his father, Richard Dimbleby, launched the programme in the 1940s. Both these programmes are regional and are broadcast from throughout the United Kingdom. I cite three programmes from this week’s programming by the BBC: first, “Just One Thing”, the programme developed by the late Michael Mosley; secondly, “Great Lives”, whose presenter until now has been Matthew Parris; thirdly, the fascinating statistical programme, “More or Less”. All three of those programmes are in this week’s list—and I can cite one more, “Moral Maze”, another absolutely fascinating programme. We are very well served by the BBC. It is the jewel in our crown and it should so be preserved.