A natural affinity

The BBC has been criticised recently by republicans for its panegyric approach to the forthcoming Diamond jubilee. It was ever thus. In his (very good) biography of his father, Richard Dimbleby (which I've just been reading), Jonathan Dimbleby writes that ‘between the most senior and the most junior institution of the Establishment, there was a natural affinity’. The BBC was always under threat from government but the monarchy was out of the political fray. ‘Out of politics, usually above controversy, stable and permanent – it embodied every quality of virtue to which the BBC most aspired. The BBC could give unswerving and uncritical allegiance to the Crown yet maintain its integrity and independence.’

Mundane quote for the day: 'The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.' – Samuel Johnson