It's political for the BBC to thank D-Day veterans on behalf of the country

So everyone, certainly in the right-wing press, says the BBC is left wing. Hmm... I'm not sure that's the case. Sure they give Tory ministers a hard time in interviews, but that's their job, isn't it? And Tory ministers have hardly distinguished themselves in recent times what with the whole Brexit fiasco.

But the recent wall-to-wall D-Day Landings 75th anniversary coverage would not lead me to believe the BBC is left wing. Where are those hard questions they put to politicians on other days? Why the fawning 'thank yous' to the veterans 'on behalf of this country'?

“Ask the man in the street if the BBC is biased and they'll probably say yes but ask them if BBC reporters thanking D-Day veterans for their military service is taking a political stance and they'll emphatically say no.”

I'm sure the Beeb's interviewers are reflecting the views of the majority of viewers who watch these things, but should they be the ones doing the cheerleading? Like on Remembrance Sunday, the BBC seems to think that the material they are putting out on our TV screens and radios on such occasions is incontestable fact.

They fall into the right-wing trap of labelling every military veteran as a 'hero', no matter how brave their role was in reality or how controversial the reasons for going to war were in the first place.

Few would argue that getting rid of Hitler was not a good thing – but what about the Falklands War, the action in Afghanistan and the two Gulf wars? Hundreds of thousands of people have died in wars that Britain has been involved in as a result of some questionable decisions.

People will say that as the state broadcaster, the BBC absolutely should give wall-to-wall coverage to these military commemorations. They will say they are national events like the Queen's birthday, royal weddings and the opening of Parliament. They may well be, but to conclude that screening such pageants uncritically is the role of a state broadcaster is surely mistaken.

I'm one of millions of people paying my TV licence. Why should I subsidise events that I feel are politically charged? As a student I can remember taking part in some massive demonstrations in central London back in the 1980s about issues as significant as the Miner's Strike, nuclear disarmament and whether the GLC should be abolished. I don't remember the BBC screening those events.

At the end of the day everything is politics. I've heard plenty of people moan about how much coverage the BBC gives to sport, and I have to agree with them. Subscription services such as Sky and BT are probably doing the BBC a favour by snaffling all the decent sport and leaving the Beeb with the crumbs.

Ask the average man in the street if the BBC is biased and they'll probably say yes but ask them if BBC reporters thanking D-Day veterans for their military service is taking a political stance and they'll emphatically say no. The Beeb is only left wing if you come to their coverage from a very right-wing position. People think the Beeb is left wing because their views are so far to the right themselves.

The top ranks of the BBC are staffed with the same public school/Oxbridge-educated ilk that you find everywhere in the higher echelons of society, including newspapers and other parts of the media. I've nothing against those military veterans who were conscripted into service and faced unimagineable terrors in the Second World War. But that was 75 years ago, life and mores have moved on and I think it's time to stop banging on about it. !