Forecast for BBC

Published: Times Letters, 6 July 2010

Sir,

At the end of The World This Weekend on Radio 4, a listener e-mailed in to say what a waste of money the BBC's radio weather forecast has become.

That morning, as I awoke in Cumbria, gale-force winds were blowing and a torrential rain, which grew worse during the day, was soaking the whole of the countryside. Shap Fell on the M6 was treacherous at midday — and, therefore, I was astonished to listen to the weather forecast just before 1pm and to hear some vague nonsense about the weather being "bad in the South West of Scotland" and the possibility of showers across the North of England, which "might" spread.

Perhaps the BBC could just get people to phone in regularly and save us all a great deal of money by scaling back the Met Office?

Rt Hon DAVID BLUNKETT MP