Brexit chaos and disorder caused by... Jerry Springer? Really!?

It’s the political equivalent of being ear-bashed by one of those End Of The World doom-mongers you sometimes see in busy city centres. It’s all bad. We’re all bad. And what’s coming is going to be Even Worse. Oh heck! We may as well all just throw our hands up and call it quits.

Bad news is reported and scrutinised with the same dogmatic fervour shamelessly displayed by the climate change lobby whenever something slightly strange happens to the weather. New day, new crisis. Honda to close factory...

Good news, meanwhile, is overlooked. Toyota is building the new hybrid Corolla in the UK (in case you didn’t know).

This culture of naysaying has become the norm. It even extends to casual asides by the likes of Sky News presenter Niall Paterson, who on Monday, following a clip of Prime Minister Theresa May not really knowing how to play pool, quipped: ‘Dancing, pool, is she good at anything?’ It was like watching a love-in for the bourgeoisie. A real chortle-fest.

It’s akin to the semi-combative “chummy” style aped by the likes of ITV News at 10 anchor Tom Bradby, whose looks and casual asides helped lure half a million viewers away from the Beeb. Both examples show a deliberate departure from the rigid, urbane, shoe-polish elan of the likes of Sir Trevor McDonald and Peter Sissons and they owe more to Jerry Springer and Jeremy Kyle than they’d like to admit.

Clickbait is a relatively modern term but TV has been chasing ratings since the year dot.

Gawd knows how much Sky News presenters get paid but I’m guessing it’s more than enough for them not to have to really worry about any post-Brexit problems. Many others are in the same boat. With no monetary constraints, these folk are free to become ideological warriors, apologists for the status quo, a kind of self-appointed, politically motivated intellectual elite who delight in citing abstract objections to Brexit such as ‘peace’. More than once I’ve heard one of the politerati argue that without the UK, Europe could be plunged into war. Again. This despite weekly riots in France, discord in Italy, chagrin in Greece and economic malaise across Germany. Throughout all this, we’re constantly told the Government has been hijacked by or has lurched to the Right. Lurching/crashing/chaos/the end is nigh! Repent, ye sinners! In fact, it’s the other way round and it’s the country which is being held to ransom by a barmy bunch of liberal, often spiteful, snobs.

BBC licence fee is out of date...

Should we have to pay the TV licence? It sounds almost treasonous to suggest otherwise. After all, one has to pay it by law. A legislative tweak in 2016 also means that just by having BBC iPlayer on your system, you must also pay.

Up to press, the majority of the British public have kowtowed to this by now generations old mantra. It works out about £12 a month or just over £50 a year for the 7,000 who still hold a black and white TV licence - surely they are the modern world’s equivalent of a lost Amazonian tribe.

And yes, I know there are some very principled YouTubers who delight in thwarting Aunty whenever it sends out its TV detector van inspectors but I am in no way condoning non-payment as a form of political protest. That doesn’t preclude me from wanting to see the back of it, though.

I’ll admit I admire the BBC for the quality of its programmes, the production is always polished but then again, it’s an organisation often mired in controversy, whether that’s it’s in-built Left leaning politics, how much it pays Gary Lineker or how much it doesn’t pay its female presenters... and despite liking its drama, I cannot recall the last time I watched a live programme.

In an age of downloadable content, the licence fee is increasingly anachronistic. Sometimes the wife and I will forget to skip the ads during playback but at least there’s a choice... whereas with the Beeb, we don’t have any.