The BBC's future lies in being distinctive in the range and quality of its output.

With the BBC seemingly under attack from the Tory Party,the FT's Philip Stephens has rushed out a five point plan to save the corporation:

Here is his scheme

1.the corporation should show some humility. To secure its future, the BBC needs to stop behaving as if it is trying to crush its competitors. It is not paid the licence fee to put Channel 4 out of business or to imitate Google.

2.the BBC should reduce the pay and benefits of top managers - and cut the number of those managers

3.the corporation must rebuild the quality of its journalism. It should start by ensuring that programme editors demand accuracy instead of "impact" from the BBC's large pool of talented journalists.

4.It should think strategically about the space a publicly funded broadcaster should be occupying 10 years hence.

5.the BBC must rediscover the difference between ends and means. The licence fee is the means by which the BBC can provide the sort of programming beyond the reach of commercial rivals; it is not, repeat not, an excuse for the BBC to justify permanent ratings wars with competitors in the name of something called audience "reach". The BBC's future lies in being distinctive in the range and quality of its output.