Reasons the licence fee is worth every penny:

• Whatever the arguments about diversity, political bias, the establishment, etc, public service broadcasting is a bastion against privately owned media and is worth cherishing

• The World Service. Ask anyone who has lived under a despotic regime and hidden in a cellar fiddling with a wireless to hear how valuable the BBC is

• The Shipping Forecast

• The BBC natural history unit… which as well as feeding and clothing David Attenborough, has given us gorgeous series after gorgeous series. Now they have a cinematic release, out this week, called Earth: One Amazing Day. Narrated by Robert Redford, it takes us through animals’ natural habitats around the planet over 24 hours. Beautiful. Well done, Auntie.
www.earthoneamazingday.com/britishisles/#home