[itsrobert]

We are in a time of ruthless cutbacks at the BBC, which are severely affecting services and output quality. Having programming scattered around the place, just to give vague “opportunities” across the country, is a luxury we cannot afford. Better to save the money, and reinvest it in other areas so we don’t have to have such deep and impactful cuts.

So, you want to save money by relocating all news production to London at huge expense? That sounds like throwing the baby out with the bathwater to me. As DTV has rightly pointed out, salaries are a lot lower in Northern England so they are bound to be saving money there.

Also, this is unfair to staff in London who have already been hit hard by news restructuring. I know it’s fashionable to hate on London, but it’s not logical.

I'm not 'hating on London' at all. I've probably visited London more often than any other city in the UK outside of my immediate area. What I do hate is the 'everything of importance happens in London' attitude that some people seem to hold.

Most Breakfast arts features are sit-down interviews taped at another time (probably because most big name artists, etc, don’t want to be on TV live at 6am) whereas politics and other such stories tend to be live from Westminster or other key locations in London. During the pandemic, everybody has become used to “down the line” interviews and this is a way to involve people from all over the place without the need for the physical studio to be in the same location as the contributor. It’s not a fair criticism (or accurate one) to argue that everyone who appears on London-based programmes is from London or presents a London-centric point of view.

You are right that the pandemic aided the inclusion of contributors from around the world, but a poor internet connection is no substitute for an in-studio discussion. 

What I should have said in my last post was that it's the reporters easily going out to northern schools, factories, hospitals and towns generally that has been the biggest benefit of having Breakfast in Salford. Giving northern people a voice is not a 'luxury' but a necessity in my opinion. They're not getting the full HS2 railway that was originally promised, nor much investment from central government, so at least let them have their voices heard.

So, to end as you start, “I guess you’re from Manchester then?”!

No, I'm not.