Local MP John Leech has joined the battle over the commemoration of the 1st World War in an quirky argument in support of a publicly funded BBC.
Writing on his blog, the Liberal Democrat MP for Withington argues that only the public funded corporation can be relied upon to tell the true story of the conflict.
Who tells the story and what that story should be, has been the subject of controversy over recent months, a just war fought to prevent the continent falling into the hands of a totalitarian militarist state or a grand mistake with hundreds of thousands of British and Commonwealth troops led to death and injury by clueless generals and politicians.
Mr Leech, whom it should be pointed out, sits on the House of Commons select committee for Culture, Media and Sport as well as being the Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesman for these areas, argues that
Can you imagine for a moment a commercial TV channel organising a four-year event like this; with different local stories for each region, and special websites for many cities like Manchester , with videos and blogs telling the story of WW1, with debates among historians like Sir Max Hastings and Niall Ferguson on the timeline and decision-making process to enter the war.
Commercial TV channels must follow market rules, and a WW1 event, lasting for four years, could never get funding. It’s not a criticism of commercial TV, just a reason to have a range of suppliers of TV both public and private
Praise indeed for the corporation John.
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