Decriminalise This

Only a handful of MPs would still oppose an amendment that simply made the television licence fee voluntary while leaving everything else as it was. Not even the Conservatives despise the BBC as much as the Labour Left or the SNP does.

In any case, it would be technologically impossible to end the BBC's universality. You can set up a subscription service, but you cannot turn an existing universal service into one. It cannot be done.

Making the licence fee voluntary would make the BBC like ITV. But without the adverts. The possibilities for reorganisation would be endless.

The Left and the working class, and perhaps especially the rural working class, need to bypass both the municipal Labour Right and the Liberal Establishment both in education and in the media.

The EU referendum result and the two subsequent General Election results have confirmed that the workers, and not the liberal bourgeoisie, are now the key swing voters who deserve direct representation on local public bodies, on national public bodies, in the media, and at the intersection of the public and media sectors.

They have confirmed that Wales, the Midlands and the North are the areas that determine the outcome of national referendums and of General Elections, entitling us to direct and prominent representation both culturally and politically.

Ours is the 2020 Vision of a new political party, a new think tank, a new weekly newspaper, a new fortnightly satirical magazine, a new monthly cultural review, a new quarterly academic journal, and so much else besides.

I will be standing for Parliament again here at North West Durham next time, so please give generously. In any event, please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.