The BBC is a Fabian institution, and its values have imbued much of British broadcasting, especially Channel 4. Sidney Webb defined his brand of politics as “democratic collectivist” – and that is the BBC to a T.

It is democratic because, like the British monarchy, its magnificence depends on the continued support of the people it seeks to serve. It is collectivist, for it must organise huge collections of people with talent, skill and ability into a common endeavour. Its default position – what it thinks without thinking about it – is that the state is benign, the rich suspect and the public realm capable of being addressed as one. This drives true conservatives crazy, and when the BBC decides to have a view of the world – as on the immorality of the Iraq war – its deviousness in propagating that is certainly terrible to behold. It’s hard, though, to see a living model of what is better.