In his supportive piece on why the BBC is important to Britain’s culture (The BBC tells the story of Britain in a way Netflix simply cannot. In the year to come, please remember that, 29 December), Tony Hall makes a reference to how important Radio Cumbria is to the people of Cumbria, and tries to suggest the same is true for Radio Scotland and Radio Wales “serving the nations”.
In reality, and unlike in England, BBC Radio no longer serves local communities in Scotland and Wales. For example, Radio Scotland’s morning news programme tends to repeat the same news stories you can hear on Radio 4’s Today programme, except where there are occasional news stories affecting the whole of Scotland.
