The BBC is being more than a bit cheeky here

We have a very strong feeling that this is one or the other, not both:

The BBC is to call for an end to political appointments to its board as part of sweeping changes designed to protect its independence.

The corporation will also demand that its royal charter be put on a permanent footing in an attempt to end the existential threat posed by having to negotiate with ministers over its future every 10 years.

Or, perhaps, pick any two of three. For there are three issues at play here. The most important of which is that the BBC is paid for from taxes. Yes, the licence fee is a tax, Brown, G. sorted that one out. So, someone tax funded will be subject to political oversight. Plus a regular consideration of whether that arrangement is to continue.

As with, say, the court system. That political oversight does not mean the determination of verdicts, as oversight of the BBC does not mean editorial dependence. But that tax money gets spent upon either system means that yes, politics righteously has a part in the oversight of the system.

The BBC could, we are sure, have a permanent settlement with no politicians involved at all - at the expense of not getting the tax revenue from the licence fee. But demanding all three at the same time does look more than a little cheeky to us.

Tim Worstall