Judging by the vitriol in Andrew Parkes' condemnation of the BBC, he has not only suffered at the hands of an overbearing BBC journalist in the past but also been refused a job by them and probably more than once.

Society's whingers always moan at the licence fee but forget how much it provides for us.

The over 75s already get free licences. For the rest though is 34p a day really too much for such quality programming? You can't even get a good newspaper for that price!

Try going without the BBC for a week and see whether the resulting £2.38 in your pocket makes up for an unremitting diet of quiz shows, reality TV, imported programming and, of course, advertising aimed at the lucrative 18-34 market on the other channels.

Andrew Parkes maintains they "take our licence fee" and spend it on "crazy programming". In value for money terms, the 4.7p per viewing/listening hour that the BBC costs the average household compared to the 38.5p for a Sky family pack is money well spent from my household budget and in my view the BBC's quality speaks for itself.

We already have little which the rest of the world envies but the BBC is one world-class winner.

Sarah Beacock Crayford