Days like today are when we need the BBC. What commercial station, especially radio, would give so much airtime over to debate the latest on MPs expenses. News on commercial radio stations is virtually non-existent. Skeleton staff run a few soundbites on the hour with bought-in news from agencies. The beeb may not be perfect but with local newspapers losing their investigative bite through poor resources its up to them to have a go.

Sadly the beeb cut back a lot of its regional programming last year so there is less investigative work being done. But something is better than nothing.