Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
We cannot let the BBC define ‘normal’ any more
The BBC is still locked in a 1950’s ‘we know best’ attitude in service of the elite, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
A 1949 file picture of Jean Metcalfe and Cliff Michelmore when they first presented the BBC radio show Family Favourites.

HOW biased is BBC news and how does this bias work? Last Saturday, Radio 4’s flagship news programme, Today, reported on how it was “time to update a 1950s survey of England’s dialects.” Leeds University is renewing groundbreaking research on regional ways of speaking.

Presenter Nick Robinson gave a a preview of the piece on the dialect survey, then announced: “The BBC news is read, without a dialect, this morning by Jane Steel.”

It was all very jolly. But Robinson showed that although a 1950s survey was being updated, his own 1950s values were not.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Google
Features / 3 October 2025
3 October 2025

The new angle from private firms shmoozing their way into public contracts was the much-trumpeted arrival of ‘artificial intelligence’ — and no-one seemed to have heard the numerous criticisms of this unproven miracle cure, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

TORY HIGH SOCIETY:  Sir John Ritblat
Features / 19 September 2025
19 September 2025

It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES

Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks as he hosts a VJ Day commemorative reception in the garden of 10 Downing Street, London, August 14, 2025
Features / 5 September 2025
5 September 2025

Keir Starmer’s hiring Tim Allan from Tory-led Strand Partners is another illustration of  Labour’s corporate-influence world where party differences matter less than business connections, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

Defence Secretary John Healey (third left) and his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu (second left) view a long-range air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missile, during a visit to MDBA in Hertfordshire, July 9, 2025
Features / 22 August 2025
22 August 2025

MBDA’s Alabama factory makes components for Boeing’s GBU-39 bombs used to kill civilians in Gaza. Its profits flow through Stevenage to Paris — and it is one of the British government’s favourite firms, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES

Similar stories
Mo Chara and Moglai Bap of Kneecap performing on the West Holts Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, June 28, 2025
Features / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025

From sexual innuendo about Blackpool Rock to Bob Dylan’s ‘God-almighty world,’ the corporation’s classist moral custodianship of pop music has created a roll call of censored artists anyone would feel honoured to join, writes NICK MATTHEWS

Crowds watch Kneecap performing on the West Holts Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset. Picture date: Saturday June 28, 2025
Media / 8 July 2025
8 July 2025

The fallout from the Kneecap and Bob Vylan performances at Glastonbury raises questions about the suitability of senior BBC management for their roles, says STEPHEN ARNELL

LANGUAGE BARRIER: Princess Margaret meeting pop group The Be
International Women's Day 2025 / 8 March 2025
8 March 2025
Decades after Dale Spender’s groundbreaking work on how language embeds male dominance, the struggle to reshape words that accurately reflect women’s experiences remains both vital and unfinished, writes JULIA BARD
Britain / 17 January 2025
17 January 2025