Brand and Ross suspended

The infantile pair have been suspended by the BBC pending an investigation into their despicable behaviour.

No doubt they are still picking up their big fat pay cheques - paid for by you and me under threat of imprisonment. The BBC director-general, Mark Thompson, described their hounding of Andrew Sachs as "a gross lapse of taste" - but taste isn't something either Ross or Brand are famous for.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. The BBC has been taken over by "yoof" culture - typified by the appallingly unfunny Little Britain - and the lack of moral fibre and decency that implies. Either the BBC changes significantly or the licence fee has to be withdrawn and it either dies or thrives in the commercial world.

I still think that would be a shame. The BBC, as it once was, used to be a paragon of quality programming and family entertainment - some of which it still does quite well - but it's obsession with youth audiences has trumped any common sense. You only need to check out a typical Friday night's schedule - dominated by programmes aimed at the 21-35 age group - to see how obsessed with this demographic they are.

I doubt that it has even occurred to those that decide these things that the very audience they are targeting are most usually out on the town getting bladdered while the BBC air these shows dedicated to them. People of my age group are virtually excluded from consideration for prime time television - I guess we're all expected to be in bed with a cup of Horlicks by 9pm.

Once upon a time a family could sit down on a Friday evening and enjoy a decent, family orientated line-up of shows on the BBC. Now that has been sacrificed on the altar of "yoof" culture and I don't see why people of my age should be expected to pay for it.