I don't know why Parliament's indirect control of the B.B.C.
should enable Members to try to spoil the market for competent broadcasters. It was stated in the House on Wednesday that per- formers (if I may so term them) in the Brains Trust item get a fee of £20 a time. I believe they do, and for the regular members it makes a substantial addition to their income. Con- ceivably not all of them are worth it, but they are picked people ; knowledge and ability should command substantial recognition ; and the Brains Trust, I should imagine, is an exacting business. A great many broadcasters, particularly on the entertainment side, get much higher fees than that, and on the values ruling in their particular world, so they should. At normal times, moreover, the B.B.C. can well afford it. It was paying its way easily before the war (thanks partly to the huge profit it made out of the Radio Times). Now, of course, the immense network of foreign services it has developed for political reasons, mainly at the Government's instance, has involved it in expense which it could not hope to cover out of income, and the Government is rightly and necessarily making up the difference.
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