How to save the Beeb by Jeff Randle

Jeff Randle has a solution for the Beeb in this morning's Telegraph,ahead of the report "How To Save The BBC" which is published by the Centre for Policy Studies, a Right-of-centre think tank

Auntie's salad days are long gone, yet she remains an aphrodisiac of debate. From alleged bias and method of funding, to presenters' pay-packets and quality of output, the BBC is a reliable energiser of lacklustre dinner-parties

says Jeff and relates the story of when he was

its business editor, and the management was trying to crank up support for a renewed licence settlement (on even more generous terms than those left behind by Sir John Birt), I was invited to a dinner for opinion formers by the then head of Radio 4, Helen Boaden. It was attended by business luminaries, such as Sir Stuart Rose (Marks & Spencer), Allan Leighton (Royal Mail) and Sly Bailey (Trinity Mirror).

and his solution?

a broadcaster that had been scaled back to high-quality news, current affairs and documentaries, including works of brilliance such as Blue Planet. This could be achieved, I suggested, with no more than two radio stations and two television channels - and for a much diminished fee.