SINCE the BBC announced the scrapping of free TV licences for ‘wealthier’ pensioners, there has been much discussion in the media on different ways to try to make an inherently unfair system fairer.

Needless to say, none of the ideas suggested included scrapping the whole illogical concept of a blanket tax on people’s capability to watch TV.

I bought an HD TV set 11 years ago. A frequently watched item on BBC in my household is a red screen, which regularly informs me that 'BBC One HD cannot yet show programmes from your area'.

The use of the word ‘yet’ after 11 years can properly be described as a triumph of hope over experience.

Granada TV manages to show local news in HD without sending me an annual bill for £154.50. In fact, thousands of TV and radio stations around the world manage to finance their operations without resorting to direct taxation of their viewers and listeners.

Isn’t it about time the BBC became a proper commercial station? They seem to produce more than enough adverts for their own output between and during their programmes. It’s not a concept that they don’t understand.

The licence fee may have been necessary 100 years ago, but the BBC should now face reality by scrapping licence fees and move into the 21st century.

Stan Harrison

Kendal