Letter of the week: Should Ofcom be disbanded?

Like the Environment Agency, Ofcom is not so much toothless tiger as active industry support. Both organisations are supposedly there to police the activity of commercial firms. But in both cases they are far more concerned with pandering to those companies.

Why? Because the revolving door between regulator and commercial companies keeps spinning, and the people moving to and fro have a strong incentive to keep it that way. Politicians don’t want to be accountable for every sewage spill or miscreant broadcaster, so they long ago set up quangos to act as arm’s-length guard dogs.

They have been completely corrupted. It is time to take these roles back into government departments, even if the politicians don’t like it.
RSP Zatsen

Alan Rusbridger writes: “The virtual absence of complaints about the flagship evening shows suggests that the GB News audience is comfortable with what it’s getting and unlikely to raise concerns.” Surely this is the problem.

I choose not to watch this channel and up to now I had considered this choice as being the same as my decision not to buy any of the newspapers that promote a similar hate-ridden and biased agenda. Naively, I just hadn’t realised that this effectively allows such rubbish to be broadcast unchallenged.
Gina Ford

Suggested Reading

Screen scandal: How Ofcom lets GB News get away with it

Alan Rusbridger

I am confused about the role of MP, which I understood to be a busy, full-time job (presumably leading a party as well makes it even busier?). 

If an ordinary worker with a full-time job undertakes other paid work within their paid full-time hours, I think that contravenes their contract. Are MPs not accountable in terms of the amount of constituency work they do? Can they really do whatever they like?
Helen Trembeth

Issue #475 contained 15 photos of Nigel Farage. Did he pay TNW for this extensive publicity?
Peter Ball
Wimbledon, SW19

For the love of any gods you may believe in, please stop writing about Nigel Farage. It’s become an obsession with you now and I’m sick of seeing his face and reading about Reform nearly every week.  

I loathe the man and you are giving him attention and publicity – exactly what he wants. 
Sue Byrne
Rugby, Warwickshire

Re: Alastair Campbell’s Diary, TNW#475

Alastair observes that politicians are more likely to be elected if they are tall and good-looking. Visually, Trump is weird and grotesque, but has been elected twice. How did that happen?

Could it be that both times he was running against a woman? And each time, a good-looking woman at that? Explanations, anyone?
Ann Scurfield
Greater London

Re: “Keir Starmer’s fate – to become Boris Johnson” by James Ball, TNW #475

I read the article with some apprehension, thinking it unfair to compare Starmer to a man who not only lied when it benefited him but also seemed to lack the energy to ever try to find the truth. But the analysis was precise, and it was clearly deeply cynical to appoint Mandelson ambassador just because he had swum in the same Epstein cesspool as Donald Trump.
Jim Slattery
Cambridge

Re: “Sorry, but your dog should be illegal” by Lucy Reade, TNW #475

Lucy Reade is wrong. Crossbreed, or mongrel, dogs are not healthier than pedigree dogs. Research by the Royal Veterinary College in 2024 found no difference in disorder risk between crossbreeds and their purebred counterparts.

Certain breeds have health issues. These have been addressed for many years by the Kennel Club and breed clubs. The BOAS scheme, developed by the Royal Kennel Club and the University of Cambridge, is a respiratory function-grading scheme that assesses dogs for Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome.

As Lucy Reade notes, this can affect bulldogs, French bulldogs and pugs. Responsible breeders of these dogs are aware of the issues.

When she writes “anyone who disagrees is not a true animal lover”, she demonstrates the mentality of those who don’t fully appreciate the issues involved. It is easy to attack pedigree dog breeders, but the irony is they have devoted their lives to their dogs and have a greater understanding of what is required to produce happy and healthy dogs than animal welfare activists.
Adam Williams
Levenshulme, Greater Manchester

Breeding dogs with health problems should be banned; it’s a cruel thing to do. Earlier this year, we adopted an eight-year-old Jack Russell crossbreed from a rescue centre, as Lucy Reade advises. Our new family member may not win at Crufts, but she has added so much more love and fun to our lives.
Richard Hallatt
Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Re: “Corpses, spacelabs and gravy” by Jamie Klingler, TNW #475
I agree that Scarpetta was a disaster. Nicole Kidman was so blank-eyed and Jamie Lee Curtis’s character was a cartoon, complete with an inflatable chest. It was pointless rubbish from start to finish. 

As it ended on a cliffhanger, presumably a second series is in the offing.
Lyn Ibbitson-Elks

My nine-year-old, Orrin, had a great time on Saturday morning completing your number jig. Not sure if it’s record-breaking but he completed it all on this own within 15 minutes. The New World is his favourite newspaper for current affairs and, in his own words, ‘Donald Trump stupidity’.
Sarah Knowles 

BELOW THE LINE

Re: Letters, TNW #475

Peter Kennedy will be delighted to know that some 30 years ago, a camping and outdoors shop in Plymouth proudly advertised its spring sale with a banner proclaiming: “Now is the discount of our Winter tents”.
Adrian Lee

Re: “How do we kill off the cool girl?” by Olive Pometsey, TNW #475

There are always cool girls. In my youth, it was Kate Moss and the rise of the underfed, waif-like body, impossible to live up to if you were that way inclined, which, thankfully, I was not. It is time advertisers and influencers accepted that we are each individual in our own perfect ways.
Wendy Hodgson

Re: “Travis Bickle, the first incel” by John Bleasale, TNW #475

I agree that the perception of Travis Bickle has changed over the years. When I first saw the film, in 1989, he was, as the article points out, deemed to be an “anti-hero” and not an obvious white supremacist/incel.

The perception of the New York the film depicts has also changed over time. Back in the day, Taxi Driver was perceived to have shed a light on the depraved underbelly of a violent, crime-ridden metropolis and its nihilistic citizens. Today, it looks like a visual record of a pre-Aids, pre-Giuliani, pre-gentrified city having an exuberant time.
Will Goble