The out-of-touch BBC could do with a dose of real life - Sarah Todd

The last time farmers descended on London to protest this correspondent can remember making a point of turning the 6 o’clock evening news on and their anger at the Government’s inheritance tax changes not getting a look in.

So well done to a group of farmers from down south who drove their tractors and parked up outside BBC South’s office in Southampton to try to get across their frustration at the broadcaster’s failure to adequately cover issues affecting the rural community.

Reform leader Nigel Farage smashed the political ball out of the park at last week’s elections. Did they give him the airtime he was due? Perhaps it’s just the bee in her bonnet this viewer has about it, but the coverage was very reminiscent of Brexit. When the metropolitan elite just steamrollered over the voice of the mere plebs who had finally made their voice heard.

In fact, it can seem that the only way to secure positive coverage is to be a drag artist, benefit claimant, illegal immigrant or spoiled prince. The ginger whinger that His Royal Highness the King’s youngest son has become - he doesn’t deserve a mention by name - shouldn’t be given a second of anybody’s airtime.

Somebody who could be watched all day long is former Conservative cabinet minister Michael Portillo. Reruns are the mainstay of our viewing these days - all peppered with commercials for everything from stair lifts to reclining armchairs - and his journeys on the railways are eminently more watchable than pretty much anything else on the television.

We never saw them first time around and what a delight, the other morning, when he was in Scarborough. What stood out, compared to so many of today’s politicians such as our Prime Minister, was his ability to talk to people from all walks of life. He never changes who he is and often jokes about himself and, of course, his brightly coloured jackets.

To be an appealing politician doesn’t mean changing who you are, as the old wax jacket wearing, fag smoking and beer drinking aforementioned Mr Farage proves. Authenticity is everything and in our world of pre-staged media opportunities and insincere sounding social media statements it is a rare gift.

There are bumps in the road in real life and it strikes this humble observer that many of the new incumbent Labour politicians don’t have any real-life experience. Same goes for those journalists sucking up to them.

There has been an outpouring of very genuine concern for ITV morning talk show host Lorraine Kelly, who has recently undergone an operation. Note to others, there is no need to go into the nitty-gritty of her personal health just as we shouldn’t with our King.

She has previously - and very correctly - said that those from a traditional British background have been ‘left behind’ in television roles as broadcasters try to tick all the diversity boxes. Kelly comes from a Scottish working-class background, starting out as a reporter on a local newspaper before getting her break into television.

It was Times Radio presenter Cathy Newman who asked her if there was a focus in the entertainment industry on gender and racial diversity, but less so on socioeconomic diversity.

“It’s absolutely right that everybody gets a chance,” replied Kelly, but with the caveat that “It shouldn’t matter what colour you are, what age you are, all of these things. It’s all about can you do the job? Do you deserve a chance?

“Let’s level the playing field…the majority of my viewers and my readers are working-class people. Not all of them, but a lot of them are and their voice is really, really important.”

Well said Lorraine. This reporter went straight from school to the local newspaper and whether collecting the fish market results in Scarborough, doing a write-up on somebody’s Golden Wedding or knocking on doors after a stabbing in Bradford as children ran up and down the street with no shoes on, real life was experienced.

BBC reporters - and many politicians - could do with a dose of it.