THE Chancellor has told the BBC to pay a large chunk of its licence fee income to fund 75-plus OAP TV licences. But who is really paying?

The licence payer, that’s who. We pay for the TV licence in order to pay for the BBC output. But we are not going to get what we pay for.

We are being charged for a service that we will not receive, so that the Government can avoid the stigma of cutting a pensioner benefit. You get the licence but there’s less to watch or listen to. And the quality will be lower too.

And who asked me if we wanted this? Was it in their manifesto? Was it one of the cuts that were not announced in the election campaign?

Is this yet another phase in a lobbying campaign of large scale companies (TV and newspaper conglomerates) who want to run the country’s media in their own business interests? Or hedge funds seeking like vultures to pick the bones of the BBC for the choice cuts?

Do the Government want to run the BBC? Or is the intention to destroy it?

Anthony Still, Barbers Drive, Copmanthorpe, York