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The percentage of those who would rather the BBC shut it's doors than pay it £120 a year for permission to watch TV, has increased from 10% to 19% since 1990 according to research commissioned by the state media giant. Only 40% said they would willingly pay £240 to keep the corporation going. Those surveyed seem not to have been asked about alternatives to the licence system other than subscription-only services.

The licence fee currently brings in £2.8bn p.a. Former director general Grey Dyke has called it an "incredibly unfair poll tax".

Mark Thompson, the new BBC director general, recently told the Financial Times that he hoped that the tax on free speech would still be in force in 2040. His corporation spends the first £146m of licence fees on monitoring households and businesses for compliance with the licence requirement and on harassing those who do not have one.

The current licence fee guarantees the corporation an additional £230m each year as the number of households increases, regardless of falling demand for its broadcasts.

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Despite expenditure of £99m last year the BBC3 digital channel achieved an audience share of 0.7 per cent. Only 1 per cent of it’s target audience of 25 – 34 year olds watched the so-called youth channel. The channel is financed by the BBC’s tax on all TV viewers.

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Media watchdog Ofcom is proposing that TV viewers be taxed another £300m on top of the £2.6m taken by the BBC state media giant. The tax would pay for another public service media organisation that would offer what the Financial Times described as "a pool of digital content" rather than scheduled programmes.

No one in the UK is allowed to watch commercial TV unless they pay for the BBC service.

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The Labour Party will promise in its election manifesto to legislate for the election of most legislators in the second chamber of parliament, according to press reports. Most legislators in the House of Lords would be chosen by indirect election. The rest would still be appointed and it is not cleared whether these would be legislators-for-life or serve a fixed term.

Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer was reported to have said that "the chamber must predominantly represent the people." At the same time, however, the ability of the second chamber to change or block laws passed by the House of Commons would be further limited.

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