The BBC is sometimes so afraid of its own shadow that it fails in its mission to inform and educate the public. This has been especially so over Brexit, so it is encouraging that the BBC’s new editorial director recognises some of the problems.

Kamal Ahmed told the Edinburgh International Book Festival this week that the BBC needed to be very careful about “false equivalence”, the practice of giving airtime to marginal views to avoid accusations of bias. He also questioned whether a debate between two opposing sides about an issue was “the most illuminating way of explaining” it.

The BBC was widely criticised by scientists for letting Nigel Lawson make false assertions about climate change, but over Brexit its failure to challenge inaccuracies and