Welcome to the latest in the spectators debate series.

Tonight we debate the future of a key British institution, the BBC.

Please welcome to the stage, our host for this evening, the spectator's assistant editor,

Isabel Hardman.

Thank you so much for coming and welcome to the Emanuel Center for tonight's debate, one of a series in which

we test arguments from brilliant speakers on big issues. In a very timely event, given the imminent

confirmation of a new Director General, our scrutiny falls on the BBC, a unique, publicly funded

institution, which has been a British household favourite, for nearly a century.

For decades, the Beebe was the envy of the world, a highly trusted source of entertainment, drama, sport, and most importantly, news.

But increasingly, with scandals over bias, wastefulness and abuse, the BBC seems to be making as many headlines as it reports.

In the age of subscription services is our love for auntie, and particularly its compulsory licence fee, stretched beyond repair.

Many say it's time to defund the BBC, while others passionately defend

the corporation and its funding model. And tonight, we'll hear both arguments. Here to propose the

motion, this House believes it is time to defund the BBC, please welcome to the stage,

the chairman of the spectator,

biographer of Margaret Thatcher,

and fierce campaigner against the license fee, Lord Moore.

Thank you.

And the author, podcaster, free speech campaigner and columnist at the Daily Telegraph,

Alison Pearson. Welcome both of you. And then in opposition to convince us that they are both wrong and that we should defend,

rather than defund the BBC, please put your hands together for a man who's graced your TV screens

over decades as the BBC's man first in Westminster, then in Washington, with 35 years as a BBC journalist, now with the newsagents podcast,

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