word on the street is that BBC6 Music is to close (see here for news article - 26th Feb 2010).

it should come as no surprise that John Tate, the BBC’s director of policy (and ultimately the man who will drop the axe) is an ex-Tory party bigwig.

“hey u guyz lets cut spending on projects that don’t give us any financial return” is typical Tory mindset. this is just the first trickle, the first penny to drop in what is going to be a fucking torrent of rash and incredibly damaging cuts the Tories will make if (when) the Conservatives come into power at the next election.

if you are involved in, help run, use, or benefit from what is considered a “minority” project, a project that utilises a small portion of taxpayer’s money without delivering that money back to government, you can pretty much forget it after the election.

i could talk about this all day but i won’t, i’ll just leave you with my half arguments. what i’m saying is not only should we save BBC6 Music, we should protect the BBC from political decisions. decisions on spending should not be decided by a bunch of arsey, rich twats in some swanky office somewhere, WE, the license payers, should be given the right to decide what we have broadcast and what gets cut. not all decisions would be popular BUT the BBC is not there to please everybody all of the time, it is supposed to reflect the diverse society we live in, regardless of whether that means broadcasting a programme that is relevant to 1% of society or to 90% of society.