The BBC’s Today has always had its critics – they speak to its importance

Justin Webb, left, and Amol Rajan presenting the BBC Today programme on Radio 4. Photograph: PA

Since I went up to Cambridge in 1968, BBC’s Today programme has been the invariable way the wireless has kickstarted my brain for the coming day (Has Today had its day? BBC’s flagship Radio 4 show grapples with podcast age, 13 March).

Complaints about content, structure and presenters have always accompanied its broadcasts, being simply signs of the programme’s importance – just as was the telephone call to the studio from Margaret Thatcher, when the prime minister wanted to make a point live on air. Yet even its old fans must admit that Today has recently lost its way in two important respects. (Assessing the personalities I will leave to others: I am still mourning the departure of Jack de Manio.)