The BBC is an institution we should all be proud of - Blaise Tapp

It has become a national trait to rank alongside boring on about the weather and the price of petrol.

Perhaps the best example of this is the BBC – an organisation of which we should all be proud of, yet there are so many out there who seem to make it their life’s work to blame the Beeb for the nation’s ills.

From where I am standing, the corporation is doing a pretty fine job as it is upsetting just about everybody at this present moment and it should be applauded for it.

Only last week it was described as the Boris Bashing Corporation by those who would like to see Boris Johnson bumble his way into Number 10. 

Front page headlines slammed the way the brilliant Emily Maitlis handled the live Conservative leadership debate.

From where I am sitting, the BBC is doing a decent job of cutting through the bluster of a so far lacklustre leadership campaign.

But it isn’t just paid-up members of the Tory party who are indulging in Beeb bashing – Liberals are also sticking the boot in.

According to some Europhiles, it is partly the fault of shows such as Radio Four’s Today programme that we are on the brink of leaving the European Union. Those unimaginative critics have dubbed it the Brexit Broadcasting Corporation.

Then there is the whipped-up outrage at the decision to scrap free television licences for all over-75s, irrespective of whether they are sitting on small fortunes.

Those currently hammering the BBC for this are overlooking the fact the government effectively pulled the plug on this when they told the corporation’s bosses they would have to find the £700m-odd each year to pay for this subsidy.

In short, the Beeb has become the nation’s punch bag and I, for one, cannot understand it. After the NHS, it is the organisation of which we can be most proud of – even if we don’t always agree with every word its journalists write or say.