Matthew Kilburn
@matthewkilburn.bsky.social
Freelance writer, editor and consulting historian - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Doctor Who Magazine - and Alzheimer's carer. Ex-History of Parliament, also liable to write about North-East England and Oxford as well as television.
Most of it, in the UK... but it's disappearing from its international streaming platforms.
November 10, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Most of it, in the UK... but it's disappearing from its international streaming platforms.
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
It is foundational IMO that BBC has been savagely defunded (and relentlessly politically bullied and attacked) from 2010-2024. See vlv.org.uk/news/bbc-pub... 2/
38% cut in BBC Public Funding: VLV Analysis | Voice of the Listener & Viewer
VLV research shows that BBC public funding available for UK services has dropped by just under 40% in real terms since 2010. Our analysis is based on BBC An ...
vlv.org.uk
November 10, 2025 at 7:01 PM
It is foundational IMO that BBC has been savagely defunded (and relentlessly politically bullied and attacked) from 2010-2024. See vlv.org.uk/news/bbc-pub... 2/
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
This in turn deepens a dynamic of 'MY side is poorly represented - why does that CRANK always get on?' when you have hot button debates largely discussed by people who are not fluent in the actual topic but are reciting talking points, often poorly.
it‘s also changed the incentives a bit. You don’t get on a programme by leading a campaign or having expertise in an area, you get on it by saying something a bit spicy on Twitter before 11am in the hope that an overworked 24 year old researcher books you.
November 10, 2025 at 3:19 PM
This in turn deepens a dynamic of 'MY side is poorly represented - why does that CRANK always get on?' when you have hot button debates largely discussed by people who are not fluent in the actual topic but are reciting talking points, often poorly.
Yes (with appearances from my sometime colleagues at the History of Parliament and the Constitution Unit explaining Parliament's oddities to the viewer - the sort of thing the BBC could and should do).
November 10, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Yes (with appearances from my sometime colleagues at the History of Parliament and the Constitution Unit explaining Parliament's oddities to the viewer - the sort of thing the BBC could and should do).
As I think I've said elsewhere, a response to the Prescott memo by someone of comparable or higher industry standing, but an intellectual framework more sympathetic to the BBC, would be welcome.
November 10, 2025 at 2:42 PM
As I think I've said elsewhere, a response to the Prescott memo by someone of comparable or higher industry standing, but an intellectual framework more sympathetic to the BBC, would be welcome.
Reposted by Matthew Kilburn
if you pare back expertise and experience, you end up with a newsroom full of well-meaning kids with no old lags to go "er, no, you need to make clear that that's an edited speech"; you end up with an emasculated Newsnight; you end up with no scope to do time-consuming investigations.
November 10, 2025 at 10:19 AM
if you pare back expertise and experience, you end up with a newsroom full of well-meaning kids with no old lags to go "er, no, you need to make clear that that's an edited speech"; you end up with an emasculated Newsnight; you end up with no scope to do time-consuming investigations.
...which seems played by the intransigent right; there needs to be a refutation from someone authoritative of as much of the Prescott memo as possible, with a clearer concept of impartiality rejecting false notions of balance in favour of evidence. 2/2
November 10, 2025 at 9:46 AM
...which seems played by the intransigent right; there needs to be a refutation from someone authoritative of as much of the Prescott memo as possible, with a clearer concept of impartiality rejecting false notions of balance in favour of evidence. 2/2