Quite apart from its endemic political bias, the BBC now seems to be incapable of understanding the concept of public service broadcasting across the board. The decision to pay £4,500 to Brendon Fearon, the serial burglar who broke into the house of farmer Tony Martin, for Fearon's part in a TV documentary about the incident has provoked the Culture Secretary to express 'disquiet and unease'. And shortly before this egregious error of editorial judgment, there was public shock and disbelief at the screening of explicit footage about the sex industry at 9.15 am, a time when young children are generally watching TV. As Andrew Bowman writes on the Biased BBC website:

'While the programmes were interesting, Magnusson's annoying wheedling- whining style notwithstanding, it's appalling to show such strong adult topics, language and imagery at 9.15 in the morning. We learned first hand from a prostitute and her 'maid' how good the money is - the prostitute had earned over £500 from 'serving' upwards of twenty-five 'clients' (some of whom we saw) that day. We visited 'Smack Alley', a named street for buying drugs in Derby. We saw a man injecting heroin into his groin. We met Matty, "one of Britain's top gay porn stars". We saw gay porn stars playing Twister. We met the 'oversized' 59-year old Dominatrix Francesca, Momma Fran, who "has recently embarked on a new career as a porn idol". We met the staff and were given a guided tour of the facilities of a Hull brothel. We heard a woman moaning "give it to me". And on and on.

This was on BBC1 - the first channel that appears on most British television sets - at 9.15am in the morning, over four days, when many pre-schoolers and children missing school due to illness are at home and watching ("Mummy, what does group sex mean?"). Worse, with the bad weather last week, schools across the country were closed, with their children at 'home when these programmes were shown.'

Now that the issue of the BBC's governance appears to be settled, can BBC Charirman Michael Grade please get down urgently to the business of cleaning out his Augean stables?