I am glad that Councillor Tracey Simpson-Laing seems to be happy to pay the increase in the licence fee year-on-year (Rising cost of listening and viewing, Soapbox, March 17).

I, for one, am not, along with the vast majority of fee payers who think likewise.

The standard of programmes, quality and content on the BBC has sunk to an all-time low, while the director general, Mark Thompson, trousers a massive salary of at least £646,000 with, of course, bonuses, along with a top-heavy board of trust members, such as Sir Michael Lyons, on salaries that no one of earth can possibly justify.

Add to that pension pots they would like to keep secret from us, the licence fee-paying public, under the guise of confidentiality.

The BBC is a state-within-a-state which answers only to itself.

It is as corrupt as our grubby, greedy, snouts-in-the-trough politicians in Westminster, so plug in your iPlayer Coun Simpson-Laing, you may enjoy the privilege of paying for fat-cat salaries at the Beeb. I certainly do not.

Bring on downsizing, Mr Cameron, bring it on!

Mr J Holroyd, Chaloners Road, York.