It is fashionable these days to knock the BBC.

Some people claim they want to avoid paying the TV license or worse, "privatise" the BBC.

Have these people really thought through the consequences for Great Britain? If not, let me give them some food for thought.

The BBC is a British national institution -- and I want to emphasise that word, "British". In this way, it can be a focus for the British national life. Furthermore, it can create a sense that there exists a British national cultural life of which we are all part.

From all of this comes a sense of shared Britishness and a sense of British national identity.

Moreover, if the BBC were to be privatised, not only would these things be lost, but programming would devolve to the lowest common denominator.

Now, I am well aware that there are BBC programmes which appear politically biased, and that there may often seem to be little "culture", much less British culture, on display.

But that is not the point. Let me elaborate.

I grew up with the BBC, or at least with BBC children's programming. Every time I heard or saw the letters "BBC", it brought to mind the words "British" -- and made me realise that I was intimately connected with all the other people throughout Great Britain -- and that happily included Lesley Judd, and John Noakes and Peter Purves on Blue Peter, every Tuesday and Thursday!

Now, that's not an argument for children's programming, which is possibly now often a form of insidious propaganda. Rather, it is simply to demonstrate the manner in which the BBC impacted my young life and my sense of national identity.

Even today -- what is happening in my country? Well, I just need to switch on the TV and find out. I am transported to the centre of national affairs.

In this regard, Britain is quite different from other countries which don't have a national broadcasting institution.

There is no national broadcasting corporation which makes you think it is representing "the nation".

US television is simply a collection of big commercial channels beaming out news and entertainment -- and mainly advertisements -- to the masses.

Indeed, in the USA, and as a direct consequence of commercialisation, a sense of anarchy seems to pervade the broadcasting medium and the popular culture generally.

In short, there is no sense that there exists a common national cultural life -- and that is a consequence of the commercialisation of US broadcasting.

Privatising the BBC would destroy any chance to maintain and develop a sense of a common British national cultural life. In that sense, it would also be an attack on Great Britain itself!

Make no mistake, the SNP recognise the importance of the BBC in reminding Scots that they are also part of a wider nation called Great Britain.

Consequently, the SNP wants to ditch the BBC just as it wants to ditch all the other elements which make up Britain and Britishness.

That is why it wants "broadcasting" to become a competancy of the Scottish Parliament.

To attack the institution because we don't like what it is producing at this particular time, would be silly -- and worse it would be displaying the inconstant attitude which is a particular ailment of our modern times.

Just like those who answer opinion polls by saying they are happy with the Union if Labour is in power, but would change their mind if the Tories were in power -- they are showing no sense that they understand, or care for, the big, long-term picture, but rather they are demonstrating their obsession with their own petty political prejudices and immediate short-term self-gratification.

Just as a renegade member of the Royal Family does not discredit the concept of the Monarchy, neither does a politically-correct culture within the BBC discredit the idea of a publicly-supported British national broadcasting institution.

The answer to programming we don't like is not to tear down the institution, but rather to move our own people into the institution so they can start providing the stories and programmes which we want!

Instead of withholding TV license payments, we must concentrate on developing a media culture which is informed by our ethics and worldview.

The BBC is a national institution, it reminds us all that we are part of a country called Great Britain, it has the potential to create a shared national cultural life, and a shared sense of Britishness and identity.

It should be supported with our taxes and our hearts!

The alternative doesn't bear thinking about!